G7 to halt Russian gold import; missiles hit Ukrainian capital Kyiv

Leaders address soaring inflation, recession threat

Russian missiles struck the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Sunday,  killing one person and wounding six more, a day after a key eastern city fell to pro-Russian forces in a major set-back for Ukraine and as world leaders gathered in Europe to discuss further sanctions against Moscow.

The US has said the Group of Seven (G7) nations will ban the import of Russian gold with the aim of tightening sanctions screws on Moscow, which on Sunday carried out missile strikes on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv after making territorial gains in the eastern Luhansk region.

“Together, the G7 will announce that we will ban the import of Russian gold, a major export that rakes in tens of billions of dollars for Russia,” President Joe Biden said as the leaders of the world’s wealthiest nations gathered in the Bavarian Alps.

New exports of Russian gold will no longer be allowed to enter the UK, US, Canada and Japan after tough new measures agreed at the G7 Summit in Germany on Sunday, designed to exert pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin over the conflict with Ukraine.

Gold is a major Russian export, worth 12.6 billion pounds to the Russian economy in 2021. Its value to the Russian elite has also increased in recent months with oligarchs rushing to buy gold bullion in an attempt to avoid the financial impact of western sanctions. “The measures we have announced today will directly hit Russian oligarchs and strike at the heart of Putin’s war machine,” said UK PM Boris Johnson, who is attending the summit in Bavaria.

“Putin is squandering his dwindling resources on this pointless and barbaric war. He is bankrolling his ego at the expense of both the Ukrainian and Russian people. We need to starve the Putin regime of its funding. The UK and our allies are doing just that,” he said.

London is a major global gold trading hub and UK sanctions, which will be the first of their kind to be implemented against Russia anywhere in the world, will have a huge impact on Putin’s ability to raise funds.

Leaders also discussed how to coordinate action to tackle soaring inflation and ward off the threat of recession during their opening exchange.