U.S. Senators Angus King (I-Maine) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) sent a letter to Biden administration officials Tuesday calling for additional steps to be taken against Russia in order to prevent Vladimir Putin from funding its war effort against Ukraine by selling its stockpile of gold.
According to the Senators, Russia has been bypassing western sanctions by selling off its $151 billion gold reserves on foreign markets in exchange for cash.
“Initial sanctions from the U.S. and foreign partners have caused Russia to shift—but not to stop—its gold trade,” Sens. King and Cornyn wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
“Although Russian gold production has remained steady at about 310,000 kilograms per year since Russia invaded Ukraine, the countries importing Russian gold have changed dramatically during that time,” they wrote.
Russia’s “top customer” is now Hong Kong, which received 68 tons of gold from Russia in 2023 — about 20 percent of total Russian gold production, the Senators said.
King and Cornyn are calling for a crackdown on Russia’s sale of gold by asking Blinken and Yellen to provide Congress with a report on persons transacting in Russian gold, and to impose additional sanctions on the people and entities “that currently help Russia sustain its invasion of Ukraine using this precious natural resource.”
“A dynamic Russian gold sanctions regime works, but only so long as the United States and its partners continue to sanction those currently most heavily involved in the Russian gold trade,” the two Senators added.
Sen. King, a member of the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services Committees and a top proponent of foreign aid to Ukraine, recently denied that any of the more than $113 billion sent to Ukraine by the U.S. has been misused, stolen or embezzled.
[RELATED: Angus King Denies Ukrainians Are Embezzling Any U.S. Tax Dollars, Claims Putin Will Invade Poland…]
“I know of no such allegations,” said Sen. King, when questioned by The Maine Wire, “The data that I’ve seen is that it’s been very carefully handled, and most of the money for Ukraine is going into the U.S. economy.”
King also claimed that if the U.S. stops sending Ukraine foreign aid, Russian President Vladimir Putin will invade Moldova, Poland, and the Baltic States.
