Russia has ramped up its gold buying, adding 26 tonnes to its reserves in July, according to International Monetary Fund data. That's equivalent to roughly $1 billion of additional gold purchases. As Russia buys gold, it continues to sell US Treasuries, in response to sanctions first placed against the state in 2011 for its actions in Crimea. Russia is accelerating the rate at which it buys gold as the world's largest country continues to move away from traditional asset holdings in response to renewed US sanctions.