International Reserves of Russia in the last week of January increased.

The volume of international reserves of Russia from 23 to 30 Jan., 2009 increased by 1.6 billion dollars to 388.1 billion dollars, said the Central Bank of Russia. This is the first increase in reserves over the past two weeks.
In the New Year's week, from 2 to 9 January 2009 as international reserves of Russia increased by 500 million dollars to 426.5 billion dollars. Then for two weeks they have declined, and from 9 to 16 January, a decrease of 30.3 billion dollars. This decline has been one of the most significant in the history of international reserves in Russia.
In total for January's international reserves decreased by 37.9 billion dollars, taking into account the growth in the first and last week of the month.
Central Bank of Russia to spend international reserves in the autumn of 2008. The funds are spent mainly on maintaining a relatively high rate and a controlled devaluation of the currency. Since the worsening financial crisis in September and December last year, the Central Bank sold the currency on the 169 billion dollar equivalent.
Russian reserves are among the highest in the world. In August 2008 the volume reached 600 billion dollars. The international reserves of Russia are predominantly from U.S. and the euro, as well as monetary gold, reserve position in International Monetary Fund and certain other assets.