This paper is focused upon the influence of potassium on the reduction behavior and catalytic properties of Fe2O3, Ru/Fe2O3 and Ru/(K)Fe2O3 catalysts for the water gas shift (WGS) reaction. The effect of promotion by potassium is attributed to stabilization of a highly dispersed ruthenium phase on the iron oxide surface. The hydrogen reduction behavior of Fe2O3 catalysts is strongly influenced by time-pressure dependent processes and comprises two or three heavily overlapped TPR peaks which can be ascribed to the following stages of the iron(III) oxide reduction 3Fe2O3 → 2Fe3O4 → 6FeO → 6Fe. The appearance of FeO as an intermediate phase was confirmed by XRD. The presence of ruthenium(IV) oxide substantially changes the kinetics of the reduction process. In the case of potassium-doped catalysts, the reduction of Fe2O3 is substantially different and is assigned to the reduction phase of KFeO2. Both ruthenium and potassium have a promoting effect on the catalytic activity for the WGS reaction.