How much gold does the Bank of Russia report in national reserves versus holdings earmarked for the NWF?

1. The headline numbers: total official reserve and the NWF slice

Public compilations and reporting list Russia’s total official gold reserves at about 2,332.7 tonnes (the commonly cited national figure) and simultaneously note that the NWF’s gold position fell from roughly 405.7 tonnes at the start of the full-scale war to about 173.1 tonnes by November 2025, after repeated sales to fund budget needs ^{[1] [2] [4]}.

2. How the Bank of Russia reports things — aggregated reserves include NWF holdings

Authoritative reportage and the Bank’s own frameworks show that the foreign currency and gold held on behalf of the NWF are accounted for within the central bank’s gold and foreign exchange reserves, so headline central-bank totals generally fold in the NWF’s gold allocation rather than sitting as a separate line on external tallies ^{[5] [6]}.

3. Simple arithmetic and a caveat: implied non‑NWF holding

Subtracting the commonly reported NWF amount (173.1 tonnes, Nov. 2025) from the total 2,332.7 tonnes yields an implied ~2,159.6 tonnes of gold that is part of Russia’s official reserves but not earmarked to the NWF at that snapshot in time — a useful way to see the split, provided one accepts the contemporaneous figures reported by the sources ^{[1] [2]}.

4. Why ranges and uncertainty matter — competing counts and changing flows

The arithmetic above hides legitimate uncertainty: different outlets and trackers report varying NWF tallies at different dates — for example, end‑2024 NWF gold figures of about 187.7 tonnes have been published, and some outlets reported intermediate totals such as 232 tonnes earlier in the sell‑off timeline — while other pieces describe virtual transactions where the NWF “sold” gold to the central bank but physical metal remained in state vaults ^{[7] [4] [3]}. Those timing differences and “virtual vs physical” mechanics mean any snapshot can be revised as more official data emerges.

5. The mechanics matter: virtual sales, domestic market operations and accounting choices

Reporting makes clear that many NWF gold disposals were executed within domestic bookkeeping frameworks — government sells to the central bank or internal swaps — and only later did the Bank of Russia begin reported physical gold sales on the domestic market; that structure preserves headline physical reserves while changing which entity is legally holding liquid gold for budget use ^{[3] [8]}. Because of that, a direct tonnes‑for‑tonnes read of “what the Bank holds” versus “what the NWF holds” can be obscured by policy choices and accounting conventions ^{[3] [5]}.

6. Alternative interpretations and political context

Some outlets emphasize that NWF gold was always a fiscal‑stabilization bucket rather than “monetary reserves” in the strictest central‑bank sense and argue the sales do not equate to a material erosion of Russia’s real stockpiles since many transactions were internal; others highlight that repeated drawdowns have sharply lowered the NWF’s quick‑liquid cushion, with material policy implications for budget financing and ruble support ^{[9] [10]}. Both views are grounded in the same reporting but reflect different interpretive frames.

7. Bottom line for readers seeking a single answer

Using contemporaneous published figures: Russia’s official total gold reserves ≈ 2,332.7 tonnes, with the NWF holding ≈ 173.1 tonnes of that as of November 2025, implying roughly 2,159.6 tonnes in the remainder of the central-bank‑reported reserves — subject to revision because of ongoing sales, different reporting dates, and the domestic accounting practices highlighted above ^{[1] [2] [5]}.