The Russian banks are short of gold, this time in the form of bullion coins. That was said by Chairman of the Association of Russian Banks Garegin Tosunian in his public letter to Head of Russian Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina. The bankers complain that there is no opportunity to buy Russian gold and silver commemorative coins of Saint George the Victorious. The number of coins minted by the central bank is 500,000 which seems quite small on the national scale. That amount definitely cannot meet the needs of all the people, who want to buy the souvenir. Sberbank, which has been retailing the Sochi 2014 Olympic commemorative coins, sells them only by the piece. To satisfy the customers' demand, the managing board of the financial institutions has to make transactions in foreign coins struck in precious metals. Then, another problem comes up - the imperfection in the Russia's legislation, in particular, the absence of the regulations controlling such kind of operations. Free circulation of the foreign coins on the Russian Federation territory has been regulated by the Law on Currency Regulation and Currency Control that do not determine the investing activities with the purchased coin. Only the Central Bank of Russia holds the right of coins issuing that mints commemorative and bullion ones as well.
