The outflow followed withdrawals of $7.3 billion in July and more than $4.5 billion in June. The total pulled from banks so far this year has topped $24.7 billion (RUB2 trillion), roughly double what was withdrawn in the first year after the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Sberbank (state-owned bank) executive Taras Skvortsov told the newspaper.
“[Ukrainian] Drones are flying; things are burning down; nervousness is growing,” WaPo quoted a former Russian finance official.
“And people’s everyday wisdom may be kicking in that they need to have cash under their pillow and not somewhere in banks where it may never be returned.”
Former Central Bank adviser Aleksandra Prokopenko said the
withdrawals “reflected deepening fear among the Russian public,” according to
the report.