Russia has almost halved its holdings of U.S. Treasuries over the past 14 months to $88.4 billion, data from the U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve suggested.

Russia joined the group of the main buyers of the most liquid U.S. financial instruments in 2008, boosting its investment in U.S. securities 250 percent to $116.4 billion.

Russia’s investment in U.S. Treasuries started to decline from October 2010. In December 2011, this investment fell to $88.4 billion from $89.7 billion in November, registering a 49.86 percent decrease over the 14-month period.

China remained the main buyer of U.S. Treasuries in December 2011, although its investment dropped to $1,100.7 billion from $1,132.6 billion in November. It was followed by Japan with $1,042.4 billion and Great Britain with $414.8 billion.