It's no secret that gold has always been considered a symbol of wealth. For this precious metal, people were robbed and killed. Entire states got involved in military conflicts to gain the right to possess gold.
Currently, the “brilliant” mineral has not lost its value and is actively used by world powers as an effective tool to protect against financial bankruptcy. In other words, a significant part of the reserve (insurance) fund, as before, is gold.
"In reserve"
It should be noted that the data of today's statistics indicate that the Central Banks of various countries, including the IMF reserves, "lie" over 32 thousand tons of "noble" metal. The population still has it in the form of coins and jewelry.
In this regard, many of our compatriots are interested in the question of how much gold Russia has.
It is noteworthy that at the beginning of the XXI century, the volume of gold mined in the world amounted to about 150.4 thousand tons of “shiny” metal.
A decade later, the above figure increased by another 15 thousand tons.
About 20% of the global “land” reserve is stored by banking institutions as assets of reserve and stabilization funds.
Exchange structures have about 1750 tons of “brilliant” precious metal, which is primarily intended for investment companies.
Of course, in the face of instability of the national currency exchange rate, the citizens of our vast country will be interested to know how much gold is in Russia.
US Gold Reserve Positions
It should be noted that in the 30s of the last century, many countries, fearing German aggression, transferred their gold reserves to the United States for storage. To this day, they are in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York City.
At present, the US authorities are scrupulously monitoring all the financial operations of the IMF, which cannot dispose of gold without the permission of the legislature.
Until recently, this state of affairs suited everyone. However, in 2011, Venezuela initiated measures aimed at a partial return of the noble metal located abroad, which is about 160 tons worth $ 11 billion.
The situation in our country
But back to the question: "How much gold does Russia have?" We will conduct a short historical excursion.
Russia before the revolution
The stock of Russian gold at the beginning of the 20th century was more than impressive. It should be noted that at that time in history there were many who wanted to plunder, "squander" and sell off property from the country's gold fund. Despite this, in 1913 it was considered the largest in the world. “How much gold did Russia have then?” - you ask. About 600 tons of precious metal were counted, which was equivalent to almost 1 billion 700 million rubles (at today's rate - 60 billion dollars)
Soviet Russia
After the October Revolution, a substantial part of the “Russian gold” ended up in Western European countries. The wealth remaining on the territory of the USSR was plundered by both red and white.
When World War I ended, the Soviet government promised to transfer about 250 tons of gold to Germany in compensation.
In the 20s of the last century, Soviet officials broke up with 200 tons of gold in order to buy "expensive" English and Swiss steam locomotives. In the end, at that time, the Soviet government "squandered" more than 500 tons of precious metal.
By the beginning of the 30s of the last century, the gold reserves of the USSR did not exceed 150 tons.
During the years of collectivization, the authorities began to actively engage in gold mining. As a result, in the early 1950s, our country extracted over 2 051 tons of gold from the bowels of the earth - this figure exceeded the volume of the gold reserves of “Tsarist” Russia.
Decades passed, the “gold” fund was declining, and by the mid-80s its size was already about 700 tons.
After adjustment
In the beginning of the 90s, a period of "mass sale" of the government began, as a result of which the country's gold reserve has become scarce up to 480 tons.
In 1992, Boris Yeltsin continued the “large-scale sale” policy, and the volume of gold reserves decreased to 290 tons.
The beginning of the XXI century
At the beginning of the new millennium, officials began to focus more on gold mining methods, so that its production began to increase.
A decade later, our country was able to squeeze Japan and take the 8th line in the rating of states that have large deposits of "noble metal." Want to know how many tons of gold in Russia there were in 2010? About 800. At the beginning of 2011, the head of the Central Bank announced that the financial structure intends to increase the share of precious metal in the gold and foreign exchange reserve, acquiring over 100 tons of ingots every year.
Not everyone knows how much gold reserves in Russia were accumulated by 2011. It was possible to reach the mark of 871.1 tons. The leaders in these positions today are countries such as China, India, Germany. Gold production is also increased in Kazakhstan and Belarus.
Our days
Of course, many are primarily interested in the question of how much gold Russia now has. It must be emphasized that over the past five years, our country has increased its gold reserves by at least one and a half times.
And yet, how much gold is currently mined in Russia? If we take into account the year 2014, then during its period 272 tons of gold were mined. As practice shows in recent years, an average of 12 months in our country mined from 200 to 300 tons of precious metal. This is how much gold Russia produces every year. Agree, this is a lot. If we talk about today, then our country has about 1200 tons of gold.
Where do treasures get in our country?
The strategic regions for the extraction of precious metal in our country are: the Republic of Bashkortostan, Magadan, Irkutsk regions, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Khabarovsk Territory. The main enterprises in this area can be considered OJSC Gold of the North Urals, SAM and CJSC Silver Magadan, OJSC Seligdar, LLC Neryungri-Metallik, CJSC Rudnik Aprelkovo.
Where is wealth stored
About 70% of the gold and foreign exchange fund of Russia is concentrated in the metropolitan metropolis, namely, in the premises of the Central Bank of Russia vault. The main treasure is stored in ingots, which are arranged in 6100 boxes. The weight of one standard ingot averages 10 to 14 kilograms. The weight of a measured ingot varies from 100 to 1000 grams.
Currently, the gold reserves of our country are an integral part of the stabilization fund, which will provide protection for Russians in case of economic shocks.
One way or another, but today, every resident of our state can create their own gold reserve by opening a metal deposit or by purchasing a bar of “brilliant” mineral from a banking institution.