John Kennedy, Elena Grossfeld, Zsofia Wolford, Thomas Kenchington
Chapter 1. Introduction
1.1. Gold as a strategic resource in wartime
In the years leading up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, gold had become an increasingly valuable economic commodity for Russia, particularly after 2014, when the state reduced its dollar exposure and added more gold to its foreign reserves than any other country. Gold also became Russia’s most important revenue-generating metal. Since the start of the war, however, gold has become a strategically important resource widely regarded as an essential means to respond to Western economic pressure. Gold now appears in the policies of several Russian ministries and has become an important feature in Russia’s international relations, not least as a means of payment for weapons and hard currencies (although the scale of this activity is hard to determine).
We did not find evidence of an underpinning strategy guiding Russian gold policy. Rather, three general trends appear to be at play. First, with the notable exceptions of the reserve policy of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR), which broadly resembles that of the pre-war period, and the Ministry of Finance’s (MinFin) use of the National Welfare Fund (NWF) to support the budget, much of the government’s gold policy seems to be made reactively or ‘on the go’.
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