MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/. Russian international reserves contracted by $33.4 billion to $385.7 billion in December last year, the Central Bank said on Friday.

Russia’s international reserves are currently at their lowest level since August 2009. During the crisis of 2008-2009, the country’s international reserves were seen to plummet to as low as $376 billion (mid-March 2009). 

Russian international [gold and foreign-currency] reserves are highly-liquid foreign assets owned by the Bank of Russia and the Russian government. They include monetary gold, special drawing rights, a fall-back position in the IMF and other reserve assets.