[DUMBGRUNT]

Last year, the central bank’s deputy head, Dmitry Tulin, told lawmakers that while gold prices may fluctuate, “it’s a 100% guarantee against legal and political risks.” Russia is hardly alone in making that observation. Globally central banks have markedly increased their purchases of gold over the last decade. Last year saw the biggest buying by central banks since 2015 as more developing countries worked to increase their reserves. Russia’s central bank likely bought around 270 tons of gold, more than a third of global purchases, making it by far the world’s biggest buyer of the metal, according to Junlu Liang, a senior analyst at Metals Focus, a London-based consulting firm. “Russia will likely remain a major gold buyer given mine production that helps it buy on the domestic market,” she said.

[Windflier]

"Globally central banks have markedly increased their purchases of gold over the last decade. Last year saw the biggest buying by central banks since 2015 as more developing countries worked to increase their reserves."

Thus bolstering the view that precious metals are the only real money.