European Union Plans to Restrict Imports of Russian Gold

On Friday, the European Commission (EC) Vice President Maros Sefcovic said that the European Union (EU) is preparing an update on its sanctions, which could include restrictions on imports of gold, an important commodity for Russia.

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"As soon as we reach an agreement at the level of the member states, we will publish it," he said from Prague, where an informal council of European affairs ministers was held today.

"What the European Commission is currently discussing with the member states is not a new package of sanctions, but to advance with the details of the previous packages, to prevent them from being bypassed or to avoid escape routes that occurred during implementation," Sefcovic explained.

The EC Vice President also mentioned that the objective of the European Union is to "harmonize" its measures with those adopted by the Group of Seven (G7) in June in Germany.

"What we want is that the sanctions lead to the end of the war as soon as possible, so that the economic cost for the Russian Federation is greater, and in this way facilitate an end to the war," Sefcovic assured. 

The informal Council of European Affairs had as a priority the "renewal of Ukraine", said the European Commissioner for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova.

"We hope that the seventh package of sanctions will have great restrictive potential and will be applied as soon as possible," stressed Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration.