Russia’s international reserves grew by $3.6 billion over the week

The volume of Russia’s international reserves for the week of October 13-20 increased by $3.6 billion, or 0.6%, reported on the Central Bank website.

“The volume of international reserves as of October 20 amounted to $573.2 billion, having increased over the week by $3.6 billion, or 0.6%, due to positive revaluation,” the report says.

In September, the figure decreased by 2.17%, the regulator previously reported. Foreign exchange reserves for the month decreased by 1.9% from $436.92 billion to $428.52 billion, and the value of monetary gold in reserves in September decreased by 2.9% from $144.73 billion to $140.49 billion.

International reserves are at the disposal of the Central Bank and the Russian government; they are highly liquid assets. International reserves consist of foreign currency assets, monetary gold, as well as special drawing rights, the reserve position in the IMF and other reserve assets.

Against the backdrop of a special operation in Ukraine, Western countries introduced large-scale sanctions against Russia in 2022, and also froze Russian assets abroad. According to the European Commission, EU countries have confirmed the freezing of more than 200 billion euros of Central Bank assets.

How reported American media and the White House are increasingly insisting on the transfer of blocked Central Bank assets to Ukraine. According to The Washington Post, “if Washington acted alone,” it could transfer about $5 billion located in the United States to Kyiv. Most of the reserves are stored in Europe. At the same time, there are still legal and financial barriers to transferring assets. WP points to concerns among some experts that the confiscation of funds could prompt other countries to withdraw their assets from the eurozone.