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Citizens wait outside the banks in Russia after the fall of the ruble, the national currency

Citizens wait outside the banks in Russia after the fall of the ruble, the national currency

Noting the fall of the ruble, Natalia Proshina ran to the bench: just like hermany other Russians fear the evaporation of their savings after the Western sanctions imposed for having invaded Ukraine.

This Monday, the Russian currency fell to record lows, trading in the morning at 100 rubles for a 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, as soon as I heard that the ruble had crashed, I ran to my bench”, says Proshina, a client of VTB banking, the second largest Russian financial institution, only behind Sberbank, both targets of the announced sanctions.

Former Soviet television journalist Natalia, 75, was preparing to “withdraw (all her) money so as not to lose everything again,” as was the case during the financial crisis of 1998.

“I no longer want to play the game of the State (…) which can very easily decree martial law and confiscate my savings at any time”, under the pretext of the war in Ukraine, he exclaims in a military tone.

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The volatility of the exchange rate of the national currency, a consequence of the harsh Western sanctions, will “lower the standard of living a year from now”, 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 today.”qualifies Sergey Jestanov, adviser on macroeconomic affairs at Open Broker.

A future full of fear

Before the entrance of the same bank, located in the heart of Moscow, Alexander Zuiev, 40, waits his turn to be received.

“I think that withdrawing cash is the most reasonable thing in the current situation.“, it states. “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 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 dollars, real estate or gold”, although a mass panic movement has not yet been observed this Monday.

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

Rustam Iakovlev, also a Muscovite, predicts a general panic.

“Although the Central Bank (of Russia) ensures that everything will be fine, people will panic and withdraw all their money,” anticipates this 50-year-old engineer. (I)

More news about the conflict between Russia and Ukraine

Source: Eluniverso

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