By Admin 
Russia Gold Reserve: For the first time in the last 25 years, Russia has started selling gold from its Central Bank reserves. This has been revealed in a report by Berlin based news outlet bne IntelliNews.
The report said that regulatory data shows that between 2022 and 2025, Russia has sold more than 15 trillion RUB ($150 billion) of gold and foreign currency. After this, additional sales of 3.5 trillion rubles ($35 billion) have been made in the first two months of 2026. The Central Bank of Russia sold 300,000 ounces of gold in January alone and 200,000 ounces of gold in February.
Why is Russia selling gold?
Russia’s war with Ukraine is dragging on. Due to this, there has also been a huge increase in military expenditure. This is the fourth year of the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine. This year, Russia allocated a record more than 14.5 trillion rubles in its defense budget. This is about 40 percent of the total government expenditure. It is not possible to compensate for this merely by collecting taxes.
Russia’s budget deficit has reached 2.6-3.4 percent in 2025 because due to the war in Ukraine, many Western countries have imposed sanctions on Russia’s oil and gas, which is its main source of income. To compensate for all this, Russia is using its gold reserves.
Russia changed strategy
Earlier, the Central Bank of Russia and the Finance Ministry used to transfer gold only on paper, but now real gold bricks are being taken out from the gold reserve and sold in the market. Due to this huge sale, Russia’s gold reserve has fallen to its lowest level (74.3 million) in the last four years. This shows to what extent the pressure on the country’s economy has increased as the war has entered its fourth year.
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