Other destinations have taken over Russia’s bullion trade after the G7 and EU banned imports from the sanctioned country
West losing Russian gold – Bloomberg
© Sputnik / Ilya Naymushin
A number of countries are snapping up Russian gold bullion after Western governments closed their markets as part of Ukraine-related sanctions on Moscow, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
The G7, EU and Switzerland, a major gold hub with a traditionally neutral stance, banned Russian gold imports last summer in an effort to damage the country's $20 billion gold industry.
Prior to the sanctions, London was the top destination for Russian gold. Now, since major gold-buying banks such as JPMorgan Chase and HSBC Holdings stopped trading Russian precious metals, numerous small players from logistics companies to dealers have stepped in, Bloomberg wrote.
Exports from the sanctioned country have been rerouted to the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Türkiye, which have not joined Western restrictions, the outlet said, citing data from trade-tracking firm ImportGenius, based on Russian customs figures for the six months through August.
Western sanctions have blocked Russian gold from their own markets and banned merchants from dealing with it. But companies in other countries are not prohibited from trading the precious metal as there are no secondary sanctions.
Russian gold production soarsREAD MORE: Russian gold production soars
The UAE, which has become a hub for the precious metals trade between the East and West, has replaced the UK as the new top destination for Russian gold, with more than $500 million worth of bullion being exported there in the six months through August.
Russian gold worth about $305 million was tracked as passing through Istanbul airport between March and August last year, making Türkiye the second key endpoint of the precious metal.
Hong Kong-based financial company VPower Finance Security, which provides cash and gold for Chinese banks, handled more than $300 million of Russian gold shipments between March and August last year, according to ImportGenius tracking data.
Meanwhile, Russian gold miners boosted output by 26.5% year-on-year in March, according to the latest data from the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat). Gold production jumped by more than 30% compared to February. The first quarter figure was 9.1% higher than in the same period last year.....More Below
https://www.rt.com/business/575729-russian-gold-export-western-sanctions/
Accepting the Washington-based lender’s plan would be a “disgrace” for Dakar, the African state’s prime minister has said
Senegal has rejected a debt-restructuring proposal put forward by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The West African country’s prime minister, Ousmane Sonko, said following the plan would amount to a national “disgrace.”
Sonko made the remarks at a rally in the capital, Dakar, on Sunday, days after the Washington-based lender concluded a two-week mission to Senegal without a new financing deal.
Senegal’s public debt has risen to over $11 billion amid the discovery of $7 billion in undeclared loans. The IMF has since frozen a $1.8 billion lending facility to the former French colony, citing misreporting and hidden debt.
Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who came to power in April 2024, has blamed his predecessor, Macky Sall, for the debt crisis.....more here
https://www.rt.com/africa/627581-senegal-rejects-imf-debt-restructuring-proposal/
While Washington dreams of a Golden Dome, Beijing is quietly building one that actually works
When Donald Trump unveiled the Golden Dome in May 2025, he promised nothing less than a revolution in American security – a $175-billion missile defense shield designed to intercept any threat to the United States.
Modeled on Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, the new project envisions an integrated network of satellites, next-generation interceptors, radars, and laser weapons extending from the Earth’s surface to outer space. The ambition is clear: complete, preemptive, and absolute protection by 2029.
Yet behind the spectacle of technological grandeur lies a troubling pattern. No concrete system architecture has been presented, and early projections suggest the true cost could triple the official figure. More importantly, the concept of “absolute security” signals an enduring American desire for unipolar dominance – one that undermines, rather than reinforces, global ...
The overthrow of PM Sheikh Hasina in 2024 was funded by USAID and Clinton family money, Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury told RT
The unwillingness of Bangladesh to condemn Russia over the Ukraine conflict was one of the reasons the US wanted to oust Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, former cabinet minister and chief negotiator Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury has said in an interview with RT.
Hasina, who led Bangladesh for 15 years, fled the country in August 2024, following weeks of violent student-led protests which claimed 700 lives, according to some estimates.
Chowdhury, who served as the country’s shipping minister, was at the heart of negotiations between the authorities in Dhaka and demonstrators during the crisis. The country has been led by an interim government since then, which pledged to hold an election in 2026.
Chowdhury told RT in an exclusive interview to be aired on Monday that the uprising was instigated by NGOs linked to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the ...
