Biden: G-7 to ban Russian gold in response to Ukraine warfare

President Joe Biden mentioned Sunday that the United States and different Group of Seven main economies will ban imports of gold from Russia, the most recent in a collection of sanctions that the membership of democracies hopes will additional isolate Russia economically after its invasion of Ukraine.

A proper announcement was anticipated Tuesday because the leaders meet for his or her annual summit.

Biden and his counterparts will huddle on the summit’s opening day Sunday to debate how you can safe vitality provides and deal with inflation, aiming to maintain the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from splintering the worldwide coalition working to punish Moscow.

Hours earlier than the summit was set to open, Russia launched missile strikes in opposition to the Ukrainian capital Sunday, hitting at the least two residential buildings, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko mentioned. They had been the primary such strikes by Russia in three weeks.

Senior Biden administration officers mentioned gold is Moscow’s second-largest export after vitality.

Banning imports would make it tougher for Russia to take part in world markets, they mentioned.

Biden’s Twitter feed mentioned Russia “rakes in tens of billions of dollars” from the sale of its gold.

In current years, gold has been the highest Russian export after vitality — reaching virtually $19 billion or about 5% of world gold exports, in 2020, in keeping with the White House.

Of Russian gold exports, 90% had been consigned to G-7 international locations. Of these Russian exports, over 90%, or practically $17 billion, was exported to the UK.

The United States imported lower than $200 million in gold from Russia in 2019 and beneath $1 million in 2020 and 2021.

The UK additionally was anticipated to announce Sunday that it’s going to ban Russian gold imports, adopted by a proper announcement Tuesday involving all G-7 international locations, in keeping with the Biden administration officers, who spoke on situation of anonymity to debate particulars earlier than the announcement.

Biden arrived in Germany’s picturesque Bavarian alps early Sunday morning to affix his counterparts for the annual assembly of the world’s main democratic economies, the place the reverberations from the brutal warfare in Ukraine shall be entrance and centre within the dialogue.

He and the allies purpose to current a united entrance in help of Ukraine because the battle enters its fourth month.

Biden will open the go to by assembly with the summit’s host, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, earlier than spending the afternoon in each formal and casual settings with the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the European Union.

John Kirby, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, mentioned Saturday that the summit will tackle issues reminiscent of inflation and different “challenges in the global economy as a result of Mr. Putin’s war — but also how to continue to hold Mr. Putin accountable” and topic to “constant consequences.”

“There will be some muscle movements,” Kirby mentioned from Air Force One as Biden flew to Germany.

Among the problems to be mentioned are value caps on vitality which are supposed to restrict Russian oil and gasoline income that Moscow can put to make use of in its warfare effort. The concept has been championed by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

A senior German official, talking on situation of anonymity per division guidelines, mentioned the US concept of value caps was being mentioned intensely, by way of how it might work precisely and the way it might match with the US, EU, British, Canadian and Japanese sanctions regimes.

Officials had been additionally set to debate how you can keep commitments to addressing local weather change whereas additionally fixing essential vitality provide wants because of the warfare.

“There’s no watering down of climate commitments,” Kirby mentioned.

Biden can be set on Sunday to formally launch a world infrastructure partnership meant to counter China’s affect within the creating world, which he had named “Build Back Better World” and launched finally yr’s G-7 summit.

Kirby mentioned Biden and different leaders would announce the primary tasks to learn from what the US sees as an “alternative to infrastructure models that sell debt traps to low- and middle-income partner countries, and advance US economic competitiveness and our national security.”