Moscow’s gold reserves now stand at their lowest level since 2020 after selling almost 50 million tonnes since the start of 2026. Russia’s central bank has become the biggest seller of gold among its global peers as Moscow seeks to shore up a budget hit by war costs and falling income from energy exports. Russia sold off 21.77 tonnes of its gold reserves in the second quarter of the year, dwarfing second-placed Turkey's 4.23 tonnes, according to data from the World Gold Council (WGC). Moscow sold almost 50 million tonnes of the precious metal in the first seven months of the year, according to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation's own data. The figure represents a record since the 118 tonnes Russia sold in three months during a bond crisis in 1998. Moscow’s gold reserves now stand at their lowest level since 2020, The Moscow Times reported. A growing deficit Russia is currently offloading gold primarily to cover its budget deficit and to address problems with foreign currency liquidity, The Moscow Times cited one analyst as saying. Russia’s Ministry of Finance has said the country’s federal budget deficit stood at 6.45 trillion rubles (€65 billion) between January and July, up from 5.7 (€57 billion) trillion rubles during the same period of 2025. Russia retains the fifth largest gold reserve in the world and the biggest in Central and Eastern Europe, holding 2,282.98 tonnes, or almost two thirds of the region’s total gold stocks. Second in the ranking is Poland with 632.43 tonnes, though the National Bank of Poland took first place in the WGC’s gold-buying league in Q2, purchasing 50.79 tonnes, ahead of China on 32.97 tonnes.
Russia still holds around two thirds of Central and Eastern Europe’s gold reserves. (Alexander Manzyuk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
