U.S. and Allies Ban Russian Gold Imports, Impose  New Sanctions

Washington 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, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

In a statement, the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions on 70 entities, including State Corporation Rostec. and its key holdings and affiliates, as well as 29 Russian individuals.

The Treasury Department redesignated the so-called DNR and LNR, and sanctioned Vitaliy Pavlovich Khotsenko, who is "the newly appointed chairperson of the so-called government of the DNR," and 6 individuals who "are or have been high level officials in the so-called DNR and LNR governments.

The State Department in its turn is imposing sanctions on 45 entities and 29 individuals.

"Included in the State Department’s action is the designation of Russian Federation military units and the redesignation of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), which have been credibly implicated in human rights abuses or violations of international humanitarian law in Ukraine," the Treasury statement said.

The State Department will also move to impose visa restrictions on officials believed to have threatened or violated Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, or political independence, including on more than 500 Russian military officers and on officials involved in suppressing dissent.

The expanded sanctions represent the latest effort by the U.S. and its G7 partners to target Putin and alienate the country’s economy from international commerce and payments systems.

The UK, Canada, and Japan are joining in the U.S. effort to ban gold imports from Russia.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.