The Treasury Department on Tuesday announced that the U.S. and a handful of key economic allies will prohibit imports of Russian gold, Moscow’s largest export outside of the energy sector.
The expanded sanctions represent the latest effort by the U.S. and its Group of Seven partners to target Russian President Vladimir Putin and alienate the country’s economy from international commerce and payments systems.
The United Kingdom, Canada, and Japan are joining in the U.S. effort to ban gold imports from Russia.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has touted the multilateral effort to enforce economic penalties as crippling to Moscow and a severe punishment for Putin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Treasury also announced Tuesday that its penalties now target an additional 70 Russian companies and other entities critical to the country’s defense industrial and manufacturing base.
“Broad multilateral commitments and actions by G7 members this week further cut off the Russian Federation’s access to technology that is critical to their military,” Yellen said in a press release. “Targeting Russia’s defense industry will degrade Putin’s capabilities and further impede his war against Ukraine, which has already been plagued by poor morale, broken supply chains, and logistical failures.”
The ban against gold mined in Russia does not apply to metal that was located outside of Russia prior to Tuesday’s declaration, the Treasury said.
Read More: U.S., G-7 nations block gold imports from Russia in new sanctions