On Monday, December 9, the United States and the United Kingdom imposed new sanctions against the illegal trade in Russian gold, which finances the Russian army in the war against Ukraine. This is reported by Reuters, writes UNN.
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The UK Government has frozen the assets of four people involved in the illegal trade in Russian gold, and another who bought more than 3 300 million worth of Russian gold, providing income to the Russian government.
Illegal gold is an attack on the legitimate trade of a valuable commodity that incites corruption, undermines the rule of law, and perpetuates human rights violations. Russia is using the illegal gold trade to launder money and evade sanctions, thus supporting Putin's military efforts.,
The United States has imposed sanctions on dozens of companies and individuals it says were involved in a global gold smuggling and money laundering network based in Zimbabwe.
The sanctions included Kamlesha Pattney, who, according to the US Treasury, befriended Robert Mugabe when he was president of Zimbabwe, and participated in a scheme to receive cash through the sale of the country's natural resources in foreign jurisdictions and overstate reporting on the amount of cash returned back, for which they received compensation.
The US Treasury Department said that the paid network covers several countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Kyrgyzstan.It is noted that the UK also added Pattney to its sanctions list.
The country banned the import of new Russian gold in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine. Since then, the Russian Federation has found other markets to sell its gold.
Last week, Britain, working alongside the United States, said it had severed the global money laundering network used by wealthy Russians to avoid sanctions.