The Central Bank of Russia continues to sell off gold from its international reserves, resulting in reserves reaching their lowest level in six years as of the end of July. This was reported by Dengi.ua, citing Bloomberg.
As of August 1, Russia’s gold reserves stood at 73.2 million troy ounces, having decreased by approximately 0.2 million ounces over the month. Since the beginning of 2026, the decline has reached about 50 metric tons. Over the first seven months, the value of gold in international reserves decreased by $33.7 billion.
The current decline followed a long period of virtually continuous accumulation of reserves. For many years, Russia remained the world’s largest government buyer of gold; however, in early 2020, the Central Bank ceased active purchases.
By January 2025, the volume of gold in Russia’s international reserves stood at about 75 million troy ounces. Throughout the previous year, the figure remained nearly stable, but in 2026 it began to decline steadily. As of January 1, reserves stood at 74.8 million ounces; as of February 1, 74.5 million; as of March 1, 74.3 million; as of April 1, 74.1 million; and by May 1, 73.7 million ounces. As of August 1, the figure had fallen to 73.2 million ounces.
Such a rapid decline in gold reserves is a rare occurrence in Russian history. According to data from the World Gold Council, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation experienced a comparable decline only in 2002. At that time, reserves decreased by 36.1 metric tons over six months.
