CaliToday (29/11/2025): In a powerful sign of the severe financial strain imposed by Western sanctions and the cost of the conflict, Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service (FISU) reports that Russia has, for the first time in its history, begun direct sales of physical gold from its strategic reserves to prop up its wartime economy.
This unprecedented move sees gold long considered the nation's untouchable, ultimate financial cushion being monetized to cover massive budget deficits and support the struggling ruble.
Tapping the "Untouchable" Reserve
According to the FISU report, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) has begun selling gold directly to the domestic market, providing access to commercial banks, state-owned companies, and investment firms. This represents a major policy shift:
Policy Reversal: Prior to 2025, the CBR had exclusively acquired gold from the Finance Ministry to build its reserves. It never sold gold to commercial entities.
Forced Measure: The intelligence assessment concludes that this is a forced step for the regulator, as gold is effectively being transformed into a tool to "patch up corporate liquidity" and "cover budget needs" amid the rapid depletion of other resources.
The National Wealth Fund is Melting
The gold sales are happening against a backdrop of rapidly dwindling liquid assets within Russia’s National Welfare Fund (NWF):
| Asset Metric | Pre-Invasion (2022) | Current (2025) | Decline |
| Total Liquid Assets | $113.5 Billion | $51.6 Billion | $\approx 55\%$ |
| NWF Gold Holdings | 405.7 Tons | 173.1 Tons | $\approx 57\%$ |
The Finance Ministry has reportedly liquidated over half of the gold bullion in the NWF to cover budget shortfalls since the start of the full-scale invasion.
Projected Scale and Long-Term Risk
The Ukrainian intelligence forecasts the sheer scale of this desperate measure:
2025 Sales Projection: Russia could sell up to $30 billion worth of gold (approximately 230 tons).
2026 Sales Projection: An additional $15 billion (approximately 115 tons) is expected to be liquidated.
While this strategy provides a temporary injection of funds to stabilize the ruble and cover defense spending (which accounts for over 40% of the federal budget), the FISU warns of severe long-term risks:
"The strategy of selling gold... accelerates the depletion of stockpiles already under pressure from sanctions... it creates long-term risks: it deepens the deficit of liquid reserves, makes state finances more dependent on asset sales, and limits opportunities for future interventions."
The actual "eating away" of strategic reserves, including the gold stockpile which Moscow previously treated as sacrosanct, underscores how effectively Western sanctions have narrowed Russia’s financial space and highlight the high economic cost of maintaining the war machine.