Britain announced sanctions against Russia's 2,300 tons of gold reserves worth about $130 billion after the US made a similar move.
RT reported, Britain on March 25 added a ban on Russian gold trading to the list of restrictions imposed on Moscow because of Russia's military campaign in Ukraine.
In the text of the sanctions guidance updated yesterday on the UK government's website, London states: "The guidance has been updated to clarify that the prohibition on the provision of financial services for foreign exchange reserves and management asset management, which also applies to transactions involving gold. It is strictly forbidden to provide financial services to conduct transactions with the Central Bank of the Russian Federation in connection with its gold vault," the document said. Write.
According to RT, Britain's move comes after concerns that Russia could use its gold reserves to circumvent Western sanctions.
On March 24, the US Treasury Department also issued a notice banning gold transactions with Russia, targeting Moscow's reserves of about 2,300 tons worth more than $130 billion.
These restrictions only affect the trading of Russian gold in markets in the UK and US, and cannot prevent Moscow from selling gold to other countries or exchanges.
Russia currently has the 5th largest gold reserves in the world. They began to increase their gold reserves eight years ago after being punished by the West for annexing the Crimean peninsula.
Since Russia launched its military campaign in Ukraine on February 24, the West has imposed a series of sanctions on Moscow to put pressure on the Kremlin.
Elsewhere, the European Union (EU) has reached an agreement to buy at least 15 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US in an effort to reduce dependence on Russian natural gas. However, the amount of LNG imported from the US will only account for a very small part of the energy demand of the whole Europe.
Under the agreement, the EU and the US will set up a working group to monitor EU energy needs.
Before that, the US and UK issued a ban on importing Russian fuel. However, the EU is divided on this issue because of its great dependence on supply from Russia. Russia's oil and gas ban will likely cause fuel prices to continue to skyrocket.
Meanwhile, Russia has announced changes to its existing gas contract, requiring countries on the "unfriendly" list to pay for Russian gas in rubles.
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