Originally Posted by Parkbandit
I’m in Moscow now, they aren’t. I was looking all day yesterday and the day before, There are no lines at the bank, I just withdrew money, no issues at all. Spoke with my friend at sberbank and PSB, no cash issues at all. Just your typical grandma lines like usual at sberbank.
I also work at HSBC in Moscow, a small uptick in cash withdraws, and movement but nothing to show a panic or a cause for alarm.
Next, ATMs in Russia don’t give you the option to withdraw dollars or other foreign currencies(even if you have a dollar account with that bank) even with foreign cards. HSBC, Citibank and a few other foreign banks do, as long as you have a dollar account with that specific bank and you can only withdraw what’s in the account.
To get dollars, at sberbank, PSB, VTB etc, you need to schedule an appointment, unless you are a foreigner, or have a dollar account already opened, and you can only withdraw what’s on that dollar account. Transferring rubles to dollars also isn’t done easily, you need to schedule an appointment to have it done.
So the reports of ordinary Russians, which 95%+ don’t even have a dollar account, making a mad dash to the ATMs to withdraw foreign currency is just false.
Also, withdrawing rubles from the bank hasn’t shown a massive increase as well, since sberbank and other banks usually have a 20,000-30,000 ruble withdraw limit a day. having your rubles in the bank or cash, doesn’t make a big difference, most Russians don’t keep their money in the bank as is, as they don’t trust banks.
But keep reading those western news sites, they know better than anyone what’s happening in Russia.
Even your own article mentions: The central bank figures also included the volume of cash withdrawals on the Russian holiday on February 23. One of Russia’s biggest fucking holidays.
And: The Russian website noted that only 1.9 billion rubles were withdrawn on February 22, hours after Putin recognized Donetsk and Luhansk – Russian rebel-held parts of the Ukraine – as so-called people's republics.
Most importantly your article says: Russian individuals and businesses withdrew 111.3 billion rubles — equivalent to $1.3 billion — from their bank accounts on Wednesday and Thursday, according to data from the Bank of Russia, after the country initiated a war in Ukraine.
How much of that withdraw was from domestic businesses? Foreign businesses? It’s not just ordinary citizens withdrawing all this money, the vast majority of it is foreign businesses.
Outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg, 90% of Russians see Putin as a god, and won’t make any type of rush to the bank, as they only watch state media.
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