Afraid of Vladimir Putin’s ousting? Russians withdrew $1.1 billion from banks

Russians withdrew 100 billion rubles- almost $1.1 billion- from banks during Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s brief mutiny against the country’s president Vladimir Putin.

Russia’s central bank report showed that 100 billion rubles were taken out on June 23-25 during Wagner’s rebellion, The Moscow Times reported.

Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed that Russia’s military had killed about 30 of his troops in a missile strike on June 23 after which he ordered his group’s troops to march on Moscow. The rebellion ended the next day after a peace deal was reportedly brokered between the two sides by Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko.

Russian business news outlet RBC reported that the money withdrawal during the Wagner mutiny “was the most noticeable surge in demand for cash” since the country announced partial mobilization of its military in September. Russia’s central bank reported that 500 billion rubles (about $5.5 billion) were withdrawn from the nation’s banks during June. One-fifth of that amount was taken out during the June 23-25 timeline of the rebellion.

The bank said that such increases in cash circulation do not influence its monetary policies, the report claimed. Ruble hit a 15-month low last week when it traded at 93 against the dollar on July 6 which economists said was related to the mutiny. The ruble’s value has been lower since the beginning of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Economist Evgeny Kogan said that the ruble continues to struggle due to Wagner’s uprising, The Moscow Times reported.

“Yes, part of the devaluation is now due to domestic shocks. But there is also a fundamental reason—low exports,” Evgeny Kogan tweeted.