Submitted by Ronan Manly, BullionStar.com

In a significant and strategic development for monetary metals, the Government of the Russian Federation has just introduced legislation which will allow Russia's giant National Wealth Fund (NWF) to invest in gold and other precious metals. The NWF is Russia's de facto sovereign wealth fund, and has assets of US$185 billion.

Introduced as a resolution to the procedures for managing the  investments of the National Wealth Fund and signed off by the Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin on Friday 21 May, the changes will allow the National Wealth Fund to buy and hold gold and other precious metals with the Russian central bank, the Bank of Russia.

In a note accompanying the gold announcement, the Russian government refers to gold as a traditional protective asset, and says that the move to add gold will introduce more diversification into NWF's investment allocation, while promoting overall safety and profitability for the fund.