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Russia’s gold reserves have reached a record high, with values of US$310 billion, the Bank of Russia has stated. Gold is traditionally viewed as a hedge against inflation and currency fluctuations and broke the fundamental line of US$4,000 an ounce in October. In 2023, gold traded below US$2,000 an ounce.
Russia’s gold reserves total an estimated 2,329.63 tonnes as of Q3 2025.
The impotence of Western sanctions in the face of the global economic climate is such that to reach the record US$310 billion valuation, Russia had to do precisely nothing. Russia hasn’t added to its gold reserves so far this year, while the value of Russia’s gold has risen by a record US$92 billion over the past twelve months. That has been created by the global economic impacts of major economies such as the United States and the EU betting that Russia would lose the conflict in Ukraine, imposing sanctions on Russian energy imports and subsequently imposing tariffs on imported goods from countries deemed to have been trading with Russia. This has created widespread global supply chain uncertainties, raised the cost of living in the West, and come as third countries switch away from use of the US dollar. Investors have sought refuge in gold and have been stockpiling it to underpin their economies as a result.
Last month, the World Gold Council (WGC) ranked Russia as the fifth biggest investor in gold globally, surpassed only by the US, Germany, Italy and France.
Countries have also been requesting the return of their own gold reserves from overseas deposits, and especially from Europe. This has occurred due to concerns over the European Commission potentially seizing Russia’s frozen assets and using them to fund Ukraine. That has promoted doubt as to whether holding assets in Europe is safe. Illustrating this, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) repatriated around 64 tonnes of its gold reserves between April and September this year from reserves held in Europe.
Where is gold heading? JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon stated last week that gold “could easily go to US$5,000 or even US$10,000 an ounce in environments like this.” He cited multiple headwinds faced by the global economy, including US tariffs, widening deficits, inflation, a shift toward AI, and geopolitical tensions along with military build-ups.
In terms of physical gold reserves, the largest are held as follows:
United States: ~8,133 tonnes
Germany: ~3,351 tonnes
Italy: ~2,452 tonnes
France: ~2,437 tonnes
Russia: ~2,329 tonnes (increasing)
China: ~2,279 tonnes (increasing)
Switzerland: ~1,040 tonnes
India: ~880 tonnes (increasing)
Japan: ~846 tonnes
Netherlands/Turkiye: ~612 tonnes / ~595 tonnes (Turkiye recently re-entered top 10)
In gold deposits (unmined gold still in the ground), Russia and Australia lead the world in unmined gold deposits, each with roughly 12,000 tonnes (untapped potential), followed by South Africa (5,000 tonnes) and Indonesia (3,800 tonnes). There are other large deposits in India, Canada, and China.
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