Aug 20. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bonds have generated over USD 1 bn in profits in the past 6 months for Russia, in which it invested international reserves, vice PM and finance minister Alexey Kudrin said. "We not only suffered no losses, our money did not devaluate, but also earned some profits" – he said. Kudrin noted that while instruments of such financial institutions as Citibank and UBS declined, including their bonds, debt obligations of mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac "looked solid, while short-term obligations even jumped, i.e. Russia also earned some funds". According to him, over the past six months these investments have yielded approximately 3-4%. Kudrin pointed out that theoretically it could have been possible to see 7-8% returns from investments in other instruments, but other papers were in decline during the crisis. Specifically, he cited as an example the Norwegian pension fund that lost 6% of its value in the past six months because of investments in risky assets. "The Russian pension fund did not lose a kopeck, as it parked funds in a conservative portfolio. The fund was provided with the capital conservation service on the international market" – the MinFin head emphasized. He also added that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bonds are sold on a weekly and monthly basis for dozens and hundreds of billions of dollars on the global market. According to him, if Russia sold these bonds now, it would lose nothing. Kudrin also noted that the bonds placed by these mortgage agencies are serviced under a strict schedule. In the past six months the Central Bank of Russia continued to buy these bonds, but in smaller amounts compared to those redeemed, which reduced the package of these bonds by USD 50 bn.