European Union leaders aim to maintain pressure on Russia at their summit this week by committing to further work on sanctions, a draft document showed, with gold among assets that may be targeted in a possible next round of measures, Report informs referring to Reuters.
The EU has adopted six packages of sanctions against Russia and Belarus since the start of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, but several sectors including gas remain largely untouched as EU governments avoid measures that could damage their own economies more than Russia’s.
Gold is one of the possible next targets, according to officials familiar with the discussions.
Gold is a crucial asset for the Russian Central Bank, which has faced restrictions on accessing some of its assets held abroad because of Western sanctions. After the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, about $300 billion of the regulator’s gold and foreign exchange assets were frozen. Approximately half of the reserves of the Central Bank is stored in gold.