London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) has suspended all seven Russian gold and silver refiners from its Good Delivery list, in response to growing sanctions over the nation's invasion of Ukraine.
The suspensions come into force with "immediate effect", meaning no bars of gold or silver produced after 7 March will be accepted by the London Bullion market.
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Gold and silver bars produced by Russian refiners up until the moment of their suspension will still meet the required standard for acceptability in the market.
LBMA faced criticism last year over its Responsible Sourcing Programme, which five civil society organisations claimed in an open letter faced "serious shortcomings", the result of which is that investors "cannot have confidence that LBMA's Good Delivery gold is free of human rights abuses and not linked to conflict and illicit trade".
LBMA responded by calling for a "global effort among all the value chain actors" to address the "challenges and risks" of reducing gold's "illegitimate sector".
