Putin Instructed Central Bank of Russia To Buy Gold In 2005

In 20 years, Russia's share of gold in their central bank's international reserves account increased by a factor of ≈12.1 times.

At the start of 2026, gold represents ≈43% of Bank of Russia's (BoR) international reserves. Back in 2005, gold accounted for a mere ≈3.5% of the same reserves account.

The move to gold was mainly motivated by the desire to diversify away from the U.S. Dollar and the explicit goal of increasing BoR's holdings of gold relative to foreign exchange assets. On November 22nd 2005 Putin stated:

➖ "I believe it's necessary for the Central Bank to pay more attention to precious metals within the territory of the Russian Federation when forming gold and foreign-currency reserves. Those reserves are even called 'gold and foreign-currency' reserves. There's nothing to be shy about here."

Since Vladimir Putin instructed Bank of Russia to start buying more gold, gold is up ≈840%, i.e. almost 10 times. In the same period, S&P 500 TR increased ≈726%, or almost 9 times. This means that Putin's strategy outperformed the U.S. stock market index by ≈14%. Perhaps the president of Russia should start his own investment fund?