UK to ban Russian diamonds, US sanctions target major gold miners

Britain published plans to ban imports of Russian diamonds, copper, aluminium and nickel on Friday and announced new sanctions against Russia, targeting companies connected to the suspected theft of Ukrainian grain.

The United States and Canada also announced new penalties on Russia over its war against Ukraine. Washington imposed sanctions on gold producer Polyus and the Russian business of its peer, Polymetal, which would further damage Russian gold sales already hit by Western sanctions and restrictions.

The UK import ban, however, will only have a muted impact as Russian exports of those commodities to the UK have already dropped after the imposition of tariffs.

“We will legislate later this year to ban imports of Russian diamonds, and end all imports of Russian-origin copper, aluminium and nickel,” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement.

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