US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will meet this week with a bipartisan group of senators to discuss the opportunity of freezing Russia’s $132 billion in gold reserves, an American news website Axios reports.
“Secretary Yellen regularly meets with members of Congress to discuss legislation. Additionally, Treasury staff frequently provide technical assistance on sanctions bills,” the department spokesperson said.
Maine Senator Angus King claimed the legislation could pass the Senate as early as this week. The initiative is meant to deprive Moscow of the opportunity to mitigate the effects of Western sanctions on its economy by monetizing its large gold reserves, punishising the Kremlin for its military action in Ukraine.
“Russia’s massive gold supply is one of the few remaining assets that Putin can use to keep his country’s economy from falling even further. By sanctioning these reserves, we will further isolate Russia from the world’s economy and increase the difficulty of Putin’s increasingly-costly military campaign,” King explained.