EU foreign ministers weigh up ban on Russian gold imports

Bloc lines up latest sanctions amid divisions over their effectiveness at curbing Moscow’s war machine

EU foreign ministers are discussing a ban on Russian gold imports, the most significant measure in a limited plan by the bloc to further curb funding for the Kremlin’s war machine.

The EU’s high representative for foreign policy, Josep Borrell, said the ban on Russian gold was the most important measure of the latest plan, which is focused largely on “improving the implementation of the already existing sanctions”.

The EU has passed six rounds of sanctions against Russia, but agreeing the last package – an incomplete ban on oil agreed in May – was a bruising experience that revealed stark differences on how far the bloc should go.

The latest measures have been nicknamed the “six and a half package”, in a sign of the limited appetite for further sanctions against Russia.

Borrell laid bare the disagreements, telling journalists on arriving at the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday: “There is a big debate about are the sanctions effective, are the sanctions affecting us more than Russia. Some European leaders have been saying that the sanctions were an error, was a mistake; well, I don’t think it was a mistake.”

According to the draft regulation seen by the Guardian, the EU will ban “the direct or indirect import, purchase or transfer of gold, which constitutes Russia’s most significant export after energy”. The plan is expected to be formally approved later this week.

Sign up to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every weekday morning at 7am BST

The gold ban follows a similar move by the G7, which includes the EU’s three largest economies. The value of gold exports to Russia elite has increased as a way to avoid western sanctions.

Ukraine’s special envoy on sanctions, Oleksiy Makeyev, said he would “not underestimate the meaning” of the latest EU sanctions. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said sanctions pressure was increasing on Moscow, and he predicted the Russian economy would contract at least 10% by the end of the year.

But he implied the EU was lagging behind western countries on sanctions. He said: “Of course we expect the European Union to take the leadership in terms of introducing sanctions. At the very moment, this was United States, United Kingdom and Canada who have the lead in this sanctions coalition, but it is important that we are moving altogether.”

Before the invasion of Ukraine, the EU did far more trade with Russia than any of those countries and was heavily dependent on Russian gas. The bloc has in effect ruled out an imminent ban on gas, but diplomats say the Kremlin’s decision to cut supplies is having the same effect. “Putin’s decisions are making it go faster than if we had a gas package,” a senior EU diplomat said.

The latest proposal also offers some response to criticism that African countries are being harmed by EU sanctions. In May the African Union president, Macky Sall, told EU leaders that their sanctions on Russian banks were making it hard, or even impossible, for African countries to buy fertiliser from Russia. The latest EU sanctions regulation broadens an exemption for agricultural products, stating that none of the bloc’s sanctions “target in any way the trade in agricultural and food products, including wheat and fertilisers, between third countries and Russia.”

EU foreign ministers will discuss further military support for Ukraine. Lithuania’s foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, urged big industrial countries to do more. He said: “If anything that needs to be continued, it is weapons deliveries. And anybody who can do that – obviously this is the main industrial countries of the western world – they have to step up their deliveries.”

Contributor

Jennifer Rankin in Brussels

The GuardianTramp

Related Content

Article image
Hungary objects to proposed EU ban on Russian oil imports
Slovakia also wants exemption despite Ursula von der Leyen saying crude must be prohibited in EU within six months

Daniel Boffey in Brussels

04, May, 2022 @4:33 PM

Article image
Brussels promises to cap price of Russian oil after Putin escalation
European Commission also proposes extra curbs on hi-tech trade as part of sanctions to ‘make Kremlin pay’ over Ukraine war

Jennifer Rankin in Brussels

28, Sep, 2022 @4:32 PM

Article image
EU foreign ministers expected to suspend Russian tourist visa facilitation
Move comes as EU official says it is ‘inappropriate for Russian tourists to stroll in our cities’

Jon Henley Europe correspondent

28, Aug, 2022 @4:33 PM

Article image
Germany accuses Russia of ‘power play’ as gas pipeline supply drops by half
State-run Gazprom reduces flow through Nord Stream 1 to around 20% of its capacity

Philip Oltermann in Berlin

27, Jul, 2022 @3:09 PM

Article image
EU agrees plan to ration gas use over Russia supply fears
Despite most energy ministers backing the scheme the EU was forced to water down proposals

Jennifer Rankin in Brussels

26, Jul, 2022 @5:01 PM

Article image
Russia will not resume gas supplies to Europe until sanctions lifted, says Moscow
Kremlin blames western sanctions for failure to deliver gas through Nord Stream 1 pipeline

Pjotr Sauer

05, Sep, 2022 @1:37 PM

Article image
Germany’s foreign minister under pressure over Nord Stream 2 sanctions
Annalena Baerbock has sympathy with US demands, but there is considerable Social Democrat support for Russia’s pipeline

Patrick Wintour in London and Philip Oltermann in Berlin

09, Dec, 2021 @6:19 PM

Article image
Buying Russian gas and oil has funded Putin’s war, says top EU official
Josep Borrell says bloc failed to act in the past but must now cut dependence on supplies by two-thirds this year

Daniel Boffey and Jennifer Rankin in Brussels

09, Mar, 2022 @3:15 PM

Article image
€1bn for Ukraine, €35bn for Russian energy: top EU diplomat calls out funding gap
EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell urges bloc to send more arms to Ukraine to help end the war

Jennifer Rankin in Brussels

06, Apr, 2022 @11:56 AM

Article image
Nord Stream blasts could herald new phase of hybrid war, say EU politicians
Norway to make military visible at oil and gas installations as bloc rounds on Russia for suspected act of sabotage

Philip Oltermann in Berlin

28, Sep, 2022 @3:27 PM