Biden says G7 countries to ban imports of gold from Russia

MOSCOW/WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS/ROME/ANKARA, Jun 27 (PRIME) -- The Group of Seven leading industrial nations will ban Russian gold imports, U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement on June 26 the U.S. President’s twitter page.

“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,” he said.

White House’s Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council John Kirby said that the G7 leaders would discuss ramping up pressure on Russia and expanding the sanctions during the G7 summit, which would last until Tuesday.

President of the European Council Charles Michel said that the E.U. was ready to discuss a ban on imports of gold from Russia, but the measure should not hurt the E.U.

Reuters reported quoting a French government source that France supported the gold ban.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview to CNN that the possible ban would cost Russia U.S. $19 billion of annual revenue, hitting the second most profitable article of the country’s exports. The impact of the anti-Russian sanctions would grow with time, he said.

Newswire askanews reported quoting sources that during the G7 summit, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi raised the question about setting an upper threshold for the price of Russian gas for the E.U to terminate dependency on the country. Kirby said in a news briefing that the U.S. thought that Moscow was using gas exports as a weapon.

Bloomberg reported quoting sources that the G7 countries discussed introducing a maximum threshold price for transportation and insurance of the Russian oil, which would allow the country to transport only the oil and oil products whose price is lower than the agreed-upon threshold. The agreement has not been reached year, the news agency reported.

Ibrahim Kalin, chief foreign policy advisor to the president of Turkey, told local reporters that Ankara received requests from the West from time to time regarding Turkey’s joining of the anti-Russian sanctions, but the country will never join them as it has its economic benefit in mind, he said.

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