Politico: In the seventh package of sanctions against Russia, the EU will make an exception for the export of Russian jewelry

The European Union plans to make an exception for Russian jewelry as part of the seventh package of sanctions. It proposes to ban the export of Russian gold.

Politico writes about this with reference to the draft document.

The draft sanctions prohibit the import or transfer of gold if its country of origin is Russia or if it was exported from the Russian Federation to the European Union or third countries. At the same time, the appendix to the document states that an embargo is being introduced on gold in the form of powder, unprocessed or semi-finished form, as well as on gold coins and waste or scrap gold.

Thus, the publication concludes that gold jewelry from Russia will actually be removed from the sanctions, or there will be a loophole to bypass them.

Every year, Russia exports gold worth billions of euros. The export of gold is the second largest item of income of the Russian budget after the export of energy resources. In particular, in 2019, approximately 90% of Russian exports went to Great Britain, which has already left the EU.

• On July 15, the European Union announced a new package of sanctions against Russia due to its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In particular, the sanctions include an embargo on Russian gold, as well as restrictions on the export of dual-use goods and advanced technologies to Russia. EU sanctions do not apply to trade in agricultural products between third countries and Russia.