America targets Russia's gold balance with new sanctions
The US Treasury issued a memorandum banning gold dealings with Russia, based on executive orders signed by President Joe Biden.
Russia has spent years achieving the world's fifth-largest stock of gold, and it is being targeted because selling it could boost the value of the Russian ruble, which has fallen at a time when global economies are isolating Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.
"American persons are prohibited from engaging in any transactions, including those related to gold, with the Central Bank of Russia, the National Wealth Fund of Russia or the Russian Ministry of Finance," the Treasury Department said in a question and answer section of its website Thursday.
The London Gold Market also suspended all Russian gold refineries from its approved list.
And gold prices in future contracts for June delivery rose by 1.1% to $ 1.964 per ounce this morning in New York.
The price of the precious metal has risen by about 2.8% since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The US government plans to impose new sanctions against hundreds of Russian lawmakers and others from the Russian elite over the Russian war on Ukraine.
A senior government official said Thursday that Russian arms companies, as well as the Russian State Duma as a whole, are to be placed on the sanctions list.
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