If even today, gold coins, even legal tender, no longer accompany states’ ambitions for geopolitical sovereignty, we see that central banks’ gold reserves are still at the center of different states’ strategies for storing its assets. ![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image-144-1024x679.png\")
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War and Gold: Russian Strategy<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Russia’s (and the USSR’s) gold reserves fluctuated widely throughout the 20th century. The tsars, before they were overthrown, had significant gold reserves: 1,400 tons in 1914. Even if part of it was pledged to finance the country’s defense.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The young Soviet Union then spent this gold to implement its political plan, and the Russian gold reserve fell to 190 tons. It was Stalin who refilled the vaults to reach 2,500 tons. His successors are happy to use this treasure to support the economic development of the country.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Again, the reserves were reduced to less than 200 tons, although in the meantime the government granted the right to citizens to invest in gold by buying Chervonetz 10 ruble gold coins.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n A few years later, a permanent tax exemption encouraged the Soviets to buy gold coins. An excellent way for the USSR to increase its gold stock by distributing it to private individuals.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The gold of Great Russia<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n It is interesting to note that leaders who have imperial ambitions fill coffers with gold. This happened with Stalin, and more recently with Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n As soon as he comes to power, Vladimir Putin notes that his predecessors have emptied the coffers of gold. He then decided to resume buying gold. And this fever for the yellow metal accelerated in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea. In 2020, about 2,300 tons of gold were stored in St. Petersburg.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Gold and Western sanctions<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n This is the latest episode of gold use by Russia since the outbreak of war in Ukraine. When, in March 2022, Western sanctions deprived the Russian economy of significant financial flows, Putin did not seem moved.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Nor the economy of his country, as Westerners now admit. In fact, despite the bans, the Russian military is strengthening its weapons stockpile and material industry.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Before the reorganization of import and export circuits through China, India or other states of the BRICS group and affiliates, Russia began to pay in gold. A value universally recognized and above all it was impossible to trace its origin and therefore to bind it. Putin had apparently anticipated the West’s reaction.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The weapon of de-dollarization<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n If for a decade the de-dollarization movement has gained ground, the first to use gold to confront the Americans remains General de Gaulle. With World War II now behind us, French President Charles de Gaulle confronted the US strategy of financing its expansion by printing greenbacks, taking advantage of the dollar’s unique convertibility into gold and the privilege for Americans to run the deficit with impunity.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Then de Gaulle decided to play them at their own game in 1965. He got rid of the French dollars, exchanging them for $35 an ounce, as stipulated in the Bretton Woods agreements.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Tons of gold were exchanged for billions of dollars. In addition, he repatriated gold from France that had been deposited since 1940 in Canada and the United States.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Initiatives that annoyed the Americans, who even nicknamed the French leader “GaulleFinger” in reference to the film from the James Bond series Goldfinger (Goldfinger) that had just been released. The Germans and then the British followed suit. This prompted Nixon to collapse politically on August 15, 1971, unilaterally ending the Bretton Woods agreements.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Storing gold<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n De-dollarization is now being promoted by several countries that challenge American globalization. There is obviously China, which after intense trade negotiations with Donald Trump, has decided to expand the use of the yuan in its sphere of influence.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Today, the BRICS countries, as well as countries usually allied with the US, accept the yuan as their currency. Saudi Arabia sells oil for Chinese currency. Even France’s Total accepted payment for a contract in yuan. China has accumulated 200 tons of gold in 2023! World record once again.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n It was apparently a tentative proposal, but in August 2023, just before the BRICS summit, Russia proposed the creation of an international currency based on gold. A proposal that so far has not been adopted by the other members of the alliance.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n This appetite for gold may seem more tempting to a European Union country. But you have to remember that Poland has its own currency, the zloty. And that this country is stuck between Ukraine, Europe and NATO. So the military operation launched by Vladimir Putin concerns her very directly.<\/p>\r\n\r\n In history, gold and silver accompanied the rule of different empires. They made possible the financing of conquests, but also the very rule of the conqueror in the vassal regions of the planet. If even today, gold coins, even legal tender, no longer accompany states’ ambitions for geopolitical sovereignty, we see that central banks’ gold … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[200,17,391,59],"tags":[83,82,48,572,693,710,141],"class_list":["post-2017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-developing-economies","category-financial-markets","category-market-analyses","category-proposed-fiscal-policies","tag-dollar","tag-gold","tag-monetary-policy","tag-russia","tag-sanctions","tag-superweapon","tag-usa"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trusteconomics.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trusteconomics.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trusteconomics.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trusteconomics.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trusteconomics.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2017"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/trusteconomics.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2022,"href":"https:\/\/trusteconomics.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2017\/revisions\/2022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trusteconomics.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trusteconomics.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trusteconomics.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image-146-1024x615.png\")
\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image-147-1024x618.png\")
\u00a0 In this particular case, we are talking about the defense of a state currency against the dollar, the euro and the ruble, just that. Therefore, a country’s gold reserve has a role as a safe haven when the economy is in trouble, but it is also a guarantee for it to be able to continue its growth or to borrow. It is above all a tool of monetary independence against the desire to exercise hegemony on the part of states that more or less share its values and ideas – this is the vision of a multipolar world.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"