More than 100 companies have been involved in transporting Russian gold after sanctions banned imports of the precious metal in the Western world. In many cases, the record lists only the suppliers or traders involved in the transaction, not the ultimate buyer, which could be a refiner, jeweler or even an investor. Mainly Middle Eastern and Chinese companies are involved, and in more than one case, Middle Eastern subsidiaries of European companies.
The largest operator of Russian gold exports to the Middle East was Temis Luxury MiddleEast, which is the Dubai subsidiary of the French Temis Luxury: between February 24, 2022 and March 3, 2023, the company participated in the import of 15.6 tons of precious metal worth $863 million. It was followed by Transguard, a member of the Emirates group, with 14.6 tons, worth about $820 million. Shams Gold Trading was involved with 8, Privilege Group DMCC 7.5, Al Aseel Jewelery LLC 5.3 and Paloma Precious DMCC 5.1 tonnes, according to a Reuters compilation.
A few dozen companies participated in the business to a lesser extent, for example, the Swiss Open Mineral delivered 3 tons of Russian gold to the oil monarchy worth 167 million dollars: after the sanctions came into force, the transactions affected the Abu Dhabi subsidiary, not the Swiss parent company. In Turkey, eight companies were involved with one ton each. When contacted by the news agency, those involved emphasized that they acted in violation of the law and that the sanctions were not violated.
The Far East is also becoming increasingly popular: the vast majority of Russian precious metal shipments to Hong Kong and mainland China were handled by a Chinese logistics company, Vpower Finance Security Hong Kong. According to records, he imported 20.5 tons of gold, worth 1.2 billion dollars. The company did not respond to inquiries from Reuters.
