RIA Novosti: the Russian Federation increased its gold reserves to a record 2,360 tons in September

Russia’s gold reserves at the end of September 2023 increased to a record 2,360 tons. About this reports RIA Novosti with reference to data from world central banks.

It is specified that in September the gold reserves of the Russian Federation increased by 44 tons, or 2%. As a result, Russia remained in fifth place in the world in terms of this indicator. The United States ranks first in terms of gold reserves with 8,100 tons of gold. The top five also includes Germany (3350 tons), Italy (2450 tons) and France (2400 tons).

They are followed by China (2200 tons), Switzerland (1000 tons), Japan (846 tons), India (801 tons) and Turkey (675 tons).

In July 2023, Reuters, citing data from a survey of central banks and sovereign wealth funds wrotethat more countries have begun to return their gold reserves as a preventive measure against sanctions. This happened against the backdrop of blocking Russian gold and foreign exchange reserves in 2022.

In response to the special operation in Ukraine, Western countries introduced large-scale sanctions against the Russian Federation and also froze Russian assets abroad. In March 2022, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov statedthat due to sanctions, Russia lost access to about $300 billion in gold and foreign exchange reserves. He estimated the total volume of reserves at $640 billion.