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The U.K. National Crime Agency on Wednesday warned banks, high-value dealers and other firms to place greater scrutiny on gold shipments amid concerns that Russia is increasingly using bullion to evade Western sanctions.

According to the NCA, Russian firms are shipping gold to countries that have chosen not to impose Western financial and trade embargos, where it is melted down and recast or refined before being sold on to buyers in other countries who “may be unaware of the true origin.” The agency did not identify the jurisdictions involved.

Britain, Canada, the United States and Japan in June 2022 banned imports of Russian gold, which was worth £12.6 billion to the Russian economy in 2021, over Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

The NCA issued the warning just hours after the U.K. government backlisted 29 individuals and entities operating in and supporting Russia’s gold sector, including two of the country’s largest  producers and a United Arab Emirates-based network suspected of channeling more than $300 million in gold revenues to Russia.