A national devotion to the ruble is, certainly, very patriotic, but the government prefers more reliable assets. While news agencies claim that there is no reason to worry about, and that the Russian ruble will show its strength soon, the authorities increase gold reserves. According to official statistics of the International Monetary Fund, Russia has been regularly buying gold during the past six months. Last month, gold reserves were increased by 37 tons, reaching a total of 1,149 tons. As it turned out, the example was contagious, and some neighboring countries such as Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, acted similarly. For example, Azerbaijan increased gold reserves by 4 tons to 27 tons in September. Kazakhstan multiplied its gold reserves by 2.1 tons to 184 tons last month, and Turkey enhanced it by 12 tons to 532 tons. Experts explain such activity by a profitable period for such transactions execution. World prices for gold reached another historic low this year; it is trading at $1,183 an ounce, the lowest level since last summer. It is worth noting that the largest gold keeper in the world is still the U.S. with 8,133.5 tons. The U.S. Fort Knox also keeps gold of the central bank of Germany, whose reserves are the second in the world (3,384.2 tons). The German government holds most of its gold in other countries: in the United States (33 percent), in Great Britain and France (about 25 percent). The third place goes to the IMF (2814 tons), followed by Italy (2,451.8 tons) and France (2,435.4 tons). Russia has the sixth place, China is the seventh (1,054.1 tons), and the eighth place goes to Switzerland (1,040 tons).