Russia's Central Bank Buys 600,000 Ounces of Gold In October
With the 20th of the month falling on a Saturday, The Central Bank of the Russian Federation updated their website for October on the business day prior to that... which was yesterday the 19th... a habit which I'm grateful for. They reported adding another 600,000 ounces of gold to their official reserves, which now stand at 24.9 million troy ounces. Year-to-date, the Russians have added 4.6 million ounces of gold to their reserves. That's a lot!!!

From what I remember of Russian gold production in 2009... it looks like they're buying everything that they're digging out of the ground... and maybe a bit more. This is basically an 'up yours' gesture from Russia to the west's central and bullion banks. The Chinese government is doing exactly the same thing, except they do it in secret. One has to wonder when their next big announcement of an increase in gold reserves is going to come... and how much it will be.