Secretary of the Russian National Security Council Nikolay Patrushev’s April 26 comment that Moscow “is working on linking the price of the ruble to gold and other commodities” was reinforced later the same day by President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Peskov said “The question of creating a financial system in Russia, in which the ruble’s value will be tied to gold and currency assets, is now being discussed.”
However, Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina evidently is not part of and/or not sympathetic to these discussions. On the same day as Patrushev and Peskov’s statements, Nabiullina remarked at a press conference that “it is not being discussed in any way"; moreover, she stressed that the ruble must have a floating exchange rate. Nabiullina’s answer was to a question by Reuters, and it was reported internationally only by Reuters.
