As Western economic and financial sanctions hit Russia, a Lithuanian in Moscow says using ATMs is near-impossible, while banks limit the amount of cash the depositors can withdraw.
“The situation is surreal when it comes to banks,” Karolina, a Lithuanian living in Moscow, who preferred not to reveal her last name, told LRT.lt on Monday. “Yesterday, I didn’t even try to go to ATMs, as they stopped giving cash. I went straight to bank branches. I visited four.”
The Russian rouble lost more than 40 percent of its value in relation to other currencies on Monday as unprecedented international sanctions were imposed on Russia’s financial system.
According to Karolina, ordinary Russians are rushing to withdraw cash from their accounts for fear that their deposits could be frozen.
She was allowed to make a withdrawal at the fourth bank branch she visited, but there was a limit.
“They didn’t tell me the maximum sum I could withdraw, but I asked for 300,000 roubles [about 2,000 US dollars]. They said they couldn’t give me that. I withdrew less,” Karolina said.
“Bank branches are besieged. Queues of people are waiting outside,” she added.
However, people are not rushing to exchange their roubles into foreign currencies, according to Karolina. Although the exchange rate is falling dramatically, many expect that Russia’s central bank will freeze the exchange rate.
“Still, people are not hopeful that things will be fine soon,” the Lithuanian in Moscow said.
In her words, there are people in Moscow who disagree with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but many are scared to voice their objections out loud.
“My colleague and I went to lay flowers at the Ukrainian embassy and were worried that the police would get us. It’s really scary what is happening in the city,” she said.
More than 5,500 people who protested against the war were detained across Russia, Reuters reported on Sunday night.
Over the weekend, Russian banks were further cut off from the international financial system. Some have been excluded from the SWIFT payments system, while moves have been made to stop the Russian central bank from using its 630 billion dollars (562 billion euros) of foreign reserves.
The Russian central bank has made an emergency decision to hike interest rates from 9.5 to 20 percent on Monday. The bank has also temporarily blocked the sale of securities held by foreigners.
On Monday, the central bank also announced that the Moscow Stock Exchange would not open. It said in a statement that it has increased interest rates to support “financial and price stability and protect the savings of citizens from depreciation”.
According to Kristina, even though Russians were rushing to withdraw cash, they were not trying to spend the money as quickly as possible for fear of inflation.
“There was no buying rush on Sunday, no one was sweeping shelves. I also wouldn’t say that people are buying expensive things in fear that their money will depreciate. We went to a shopping mall yesterday, and there weren’t that many people,” Kristina said.
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