The restrictions aim to limit the country’s ability to use its international reserves and circumvent sanctions.
Highlights
- Restrictions aimed at limiting the country’s ability to use its international reserves.
- Restrictions are designed to limit Russia’s ability to circumvent punishing Western sanctions.
- The government of President Vladimir Putin has spent years building its reserves and currently has the fifth largest stockpile of gold in the world.
- Previously, sanctions against Russian elites and Putin had not affected Russia’s gold stockpile.
- It is also an attempt to prevent innovative financial transactions through other countries that continue to do business with Russia.
- The country has between $100bn to $140bn in gold reserves, which is roughly 20 percent of the holdings in the Russian central bank, according to US officials.