Russian citizens concerned about their savings in the face of a sharp fall in the ruble

This Monday, the Russian currency fell to historic lows, trading in the morning at 100 items per dollar. This sinking awakened in many Russians, already stressed by the conflict, the memory of financial instability in the 1990swhen millions of people saw their bank savings evaporate in a flash due to the devaluation of the ruble and runaway inflation.

“Of course, when I heard that the ruble had crashed, I ran to the Bank”, says Natalia Proshina, a client of the VTB bank, the second largest Russian financial institution, only behind Sberbank, reports the AFP agency.

Before its entrance Banklocated in the heart of Moscow, 40-year-old Alexánder Zuiev waits his turn to be received.

“I think withdrawing cash is the most reasonable thing to do at the current situation,” he says. “We all have to try to cover our needs, since nobody knows what will happen,” he adds.

Behind him, Eduard Sissoiev, a 51-year-old retired military officer, begins to lose patience. He claims that he was unable to withdraw cash at another branch of the same Bank.

Believes that “90% of Russians will rush to withdraw rubles and convert them into dollarsreal estate or gold”, although a mass panic movement has not yet been observed on Monday.

“It is the population that will pay for the broken dishes of this military banquet,” he says of the invasion of Ukraine, launched on Thursday by President Vladimir Putin.

Little trust

The Bank Central Russian announced on Monday a sharp increase in its guideline rate, by 10.5 points, to 20%, after trying to “stabilize the situation” through intervention in the foreign exchange market.

In St. Petersburg, some 15 people were waiting this Monday for the opening of a branch of the Russian branch of the Bank Austrian Raiffeisen.

At the scene, 58-year-old Svetlana Paramonova states that she wants to “withdraw all her money to keep it at home”. “It’s safer, since we no longer understand anything of what is happening,” she sums up.

Beside him, 45-year-old Anton Zakharov wants to do the same, since “he no longer has any confidence, neither in power nor in the banks.”

The volatility of the exchange rate of the national currency, as a result of harsh Western sanctions, will “lower the standard of living in a year,” Alexei Vedev, an analyst at the Gaidar economic institute, told AFP.

“But the discontent of the Russians will only boil over if their standard of living falls three times compared to the current one,” clarifies Sergei Jestanov, adviser on macroeconomic affairs at Open Broker.