— OLD GOLD:

Deputy Prime Minister Vadim Gustov enlivened the debate about monetary policy with an old idea: a gold-backed ruble to co-exist with the “full-faith-and-credit” ruble. The Bolsheviks briefly used a gold-backed currency, the chervonets, in 1917-1918. Reform economist and presidential hopeful Grigory Yavlinsky has also backed a similar idea.