Russia will exit from all of its dollar assets worth approximately $120 billion in the country's National Wealth Fund (NWF) within a month, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov announced on Thursday. Instead, it will increase investments in gold, the euro and the yuan, he explained in a conversation with reporters on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
"We, like the Central Bank, have made a decision to reduce the NWF's investments in dollar assets. Today, in terms of structure, we have about 35% of NWF investments in dollars. We have decided to withdraw from dollar assets completely, replacing investments in dollars with an increase in euros, gold and the yuan," Siluanov stated.
Earlier this week, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov warned that the Kremlin would send "a number of unpleasant signals" to Washington ahead of the June 16 summit between presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin.