The latest data released by the Bank of Russia revealed that in monetary terms, the gold reserves of Russia have reached an all-time record in November, hitting $151.9 billion.

The reserves surged 2.2% month over month, growing $3.198 billion over the previous month. However the actual physical reserves declined over that period about 16 tons to 2,315 tons, marking a second month in a row of declines, according to the data. The growth in the stockpile’s value was due to the increasing prices for gold.

As of December, Russia’s total reserves of gold and foreign exchange reserves internationally totaled $592.352 billion, with $412.261 billion of that made up of foreign currencies.

The forex reserves of Russia consist of foreign currency and physical gold held within the country, monetary gold, and Special Drawing Rights (SDR) within the IMF.

In March of 2022, about half of Russia’s forex reserves that were held abroad were frozen by the central banks of the West under sanctions imposed on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine. The remaining assets of the country, including gold and foreign currencies such as Chinese yuan, were held within the country. Presently Western countries are reportedly seeking a legal means by which to seize the frozen Russian assets so they can be given to Ukraine to be used to support the country.

The West’s freezing of Russia’s assets led to a surge of nations beginning to repatriate their gold reserves stores overseas, over fears about their security. Almost 60% of those polled in a survey by Invesco said that the freezing of Russia’s assets had made gold more appealing as an investment. At the same time, the percentage of central banks and sovereign wealth funds which were choosing to repatriate their gold and store it within their national borders increased from 50% in 2020 to 68%.