USA deprives Putin of $15 billion of annual income

The US authorities have banned imports of Russian gold, a message from the US Treasury said. The US ban on Russian gold (except as provided by law or in the presence of a license issued by the Office for Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of the Treasury) takes effect immediately.

As announced at the G7 summit, the US is imposing restrictions on Russian gold, the country's largest non-energy export, in conjunction with the UK, Canada and Japan, the Treasury said.

The new restriction does not apply to all Russian gold that has been exported outside Russia until today, June 28.

On June 26, US President Joe Biden announced the decision of the US administration to ban imports of Russian gold into the United States. 

“The United States has imposed unprecedented costs on Putin to deny him the revenue he needs to fund his war against Ukraine,” Biden tweeted Sunday morning, noting that gold is “a major export that rakes in tens of billions of dollars for Russia.”

The UK government indicated that gold was one of Russia's main export commodities that generated £12.6 billion (about $15.45 billion) for the country's federal budget last year alone. The British authorities believe that the value of gold for the Russian elite has grown in recent months due to demand from "oligarchs" who try to avoid the financial consequences of international sanctions.