Russia’s gold reserves have seen a significant increase in value, nearly offsetting the amount frozen in the West. According to a recent report, the value of Russia’s monetary gold reserves has risen by $216 billion since February 2022, making up for much of the roughly $300 billion in Russian reserves that Western countries are trying to seize.
The Russian central bank’s gold holdings, which total around 2,300 tonnes, have remained relatively stable in terms of volume since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. However, the value of these holdings has surged due to the rising gold price, which has increased by nearly 70% in 2025 alone. As of this week, gold was trading at over $4,860 per ounce, up from around $1,900 per ounce in February 2022.
It’s worth noting that the headline gold reserve figure published by Russia’s central bank only includes gold that qualifies as monetary gold under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) definition. This means that the gold must be held by the monetary authorities and used as a reserve asset, rather than being held by the state treasury or used for funding the government.
In addition to its official reserves, Russia also has two other gold holdings: the National Wealth Fund (NWF) and Gosfund, a state repository of precious metals. The NWF, which is used to stabilize the budget, has seen its gold holdings decrease by around 60% since 2022, from around 400 tonnes to 173 tonnes. However, the rise in the gold price has largely offset this depletion in monetary terms.
Gosfund, on the other hand, is a more opaque entity, with its gold holdings not publicly disclosed. However, it is believed to be sizable, and some analysts think that it may have acquired more gold than the central bank since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict. As the world’s second-largest gold producer, Russia has a significant source of gold to draw upon.
The Russian central bank’s decision to sell some of its gold reserves last November was seen as unusual, but it was actually a sterilization operation to offset transactions carried out by the NWF. This means that the gold was sold on the domestic market, rather than being dumped abroad to raise money for the budget.
Overall, the rising value of Russia’s gold holdings is a significant indicator of the resilience of its reserves. While the sanctions imposed by Western countries have made the central bank’s gold holdings relatively illiquid, the increased value of its gold has still made up for most of the reserves frozen in the West. This development is likely to have implications for the ongoing dispute over Russia’s frozen assets in the European Union.
