Gold Price Trend | Putin Signs Order to Restrict Russian Gold Exports

SighingCashier · 2026-03-25T18:30:51+00:00

Russian President Putin signed an order restricting gold exports in response to Western economic sanctions and the ongoing Ukraine war, as Russia faces financial pressure. Russia sold approximately 15 tons of gold earlier this year to address a cumulative fiscal deficit exceeding 150 billion rubles. Despite the gold sales, the proceeds have had limited impact on the deficit, and Russia has begun turning to open market gold sales to obtain foreign currency.

SighingCashier

2026-03-25 18:30:51

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed an order restricting gold exports from Russia. Currently, gold accounts for approximately 47% of Russia’s total foreign exchange reserves of about $809 billion.

Spot gold prices remain on the rise, currently at $4,556.41 per ounce, up $82.03 or 1.83%. During the day, it reached a high of $4,602.22, an increase of 2.86%, and at one point dipped 0.41% to $4,456.12.

Due to the prolonged Ukraine war and comprehensive Western economic sanctions, Russia faces increasing financial pressure. Starting earlier this year, Russia has been selling large amounts of gold reserves to ensure liquidity.

The Moscow Times last Friday cited data from the World Gold Council (WGC) and the Central Bank of Russia, stating that from January to February this year, Russia sold about 15 tons of gold, the largest gold sell-off in Moscow since 2002.

In January, the Central Bank of Russia sold approximately 300,000 ounces of gold, and in February, about 200,000 ounces. As a result, Russia’s total gold holdings decreased to 74.3 million ounces, the lowest level since shortly after the outbreak of the war in March 2022.

Analysts point out that gold sales are a measure taken by Russia to offset its growing fiscal deficit. From 2022 to 2025, Russia’s cumulative fiscal deficit has exceeded 1.5 trillion rubles (about $17.5 billion), with an additional 350 billion rubles deficit in just the first two months of this year.

Despite large-scale gold sales, it is still far from enough to fundamentally resolve Russia’s fiscal crisis. The estimated income from gold sales in January was about 120 billion rubles, which is a small fraction compared to the overall deficit.

Previously, Russia mainly conducted internal gold transactions between the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank. Now, these have shifted to actual sales on the open market. Some analysts believe that the purpose of selling gold is to obtain foreign exchange such as Chinese yuan, which is crucial for import payments to compensate for the approximately $300 billion in overseas assets frozen by Western sanctions.

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