The Gokhran () or Gokhran of Russia () is a state institution under the
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
n
Ministry of Finance
A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position .
A ministry of finance's portfoli ...
, responsible for the State Fund of Precious Metals and Precious Stones of the Russian Federation. It is responsible for the purchase, storage, sale, and use of precious metals, precious stones, jewellery, rocks, and minerals by the State Fund.
History
The Gokhran was created by the
decree of 3 February 1920. In the first post-
revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society.
Definition
The term—bot ...
years, Gokhran collected the jewelry of the
Romanovs
The House of Romanov (also transliterated as Romanoff; , ) was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after Anastasia Romanovna married Ivan the Terrible, the first crowned tsar of all Russia. Nic ...
, the
Kremlin Armoury
The Kremlin ArmouryOfficially called the "Armoury Chamber" but also known as the cannon yard, the "Armoury Palace", the "Moscow Armoury", the "Armoury Museum", and the "Moscow Armoury Museum" but different from the Kremlin Arsenal. () is one of ...
, the Russian Orthodox Church and other religious communities, as well as valuables confiscated from private collections.
Since 1960, the Gokhran has been part of the
USSR Ministry of Finance as the 3rd special department and later the 3rd chief directorate. In 1987 it was reformed into the USSR state storage of valuables. In 1991, it received the status of the committee for precious metals and stones under the Ministry of economy and finance of Russia, and was finally re-established as Gokhran by
Government Resolution №1378 (21 November 1996).
Diamond purchasing
During the
2008 financial crisis
The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...
, the
Government of Russia
The Russian Government () or fully titled the Government of the Russian Federation () is the highest federal executive governmental body of the Russian Federation. It is accountable to the president of the Russian Federation and controlled by ...
bought
$1 billion in uncut
diamond
Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...
s from the Russian diamond miner
Alrosa
Alrosa () is a Russian group of diamond mining companies that specialize in exploration, mining, manufacture, and sale of diamonds. The company leads the world in diamond mining by volume. Mining takes place in Western Yakutia, the Arkhangels ...
, in order to support the Russian diamond mining industry while avoiding saturation in the global diamond market and thus further depression of diamond prices.
The diamond mining industry is critical to the
Yakutia
Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia, and the largest federal subject of Russia by area. It is located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of one million ...
economy.
[
]
Other holdings
Russia's Diamond Fund
The Diamond Fund () is a unique collection of gems, jewelry and natural nuggets, which are stored and exhibited in the Kremlin Armoury in Russia. The Fund was opened in 1967 and its collection dates back to the Russian Crown treasury institute ...
is a part of Gokhran. Gokhran also holds the Order of Victory
The Order of Victory () was the highest military decoration awarded for World War II service in the Soviet Union, and one of the rarest orders in the world. The order was awarded only to Generals and Marshals for successfully conducting combat ...
medals awarded to Konstantin Rokossovsky
Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky ( 1896 – 3 August 1968) was a Soviet and Polish general who served as a top commander in the Red Army during World War II and achieved the ranks of Marshal of the Soviet Union and Marshal of Poland. He a ...
and Michał Rola-Żymierski
Michał Rola-Żymierski (; 4 September 189015 October 1989) was a Polish high-ranking Polish United Workers' Party, Communist Party leader, communist military commander and NKVD secret agent. He was appointed as Marshal of Poland, and served in t ...
.
References
Notes
{{notelist
Economy of the Soviet Union
Economy of Russia
Diamond industry in the Soviet Union
1920 establishments in Russia