(MOSCOW) – Russian bank customers withdrew a record 620 billion roubles (£5.2 billion, $6.8 billion, €6.1 billion) in July, surpassing the previous high of 607 billion roubles set in April, according to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.
Total cash outflows from Russian banks have reached 2.5 trillion roubles (£21 billion, $32 billion, €28.5 billion) since the start of 2026, equivalent to two annual budgets of the Moscow region or five annual budgets of the Krasna region.
The accelerating withdrawals reflect deepening public mistrust in the Kremlin’s financial system amid mounting economic pressures. Businesses are increasingly moving into the shadow economy to evade taxes imposed in 2025, driving demand for cash to pay salaries.
Ordinary Russians are also following the lead of oligarchs and wealthy officials who have relocated an estimated $50 billion (£39.4 billion, €44.6 billion) out of the country since January, often through cryptocurrency channels targeted by the European Union’s 20th sanctions package.
Russian deputies have publicly discussed borrowing citizen deposits to finance the war in Ukraine, further fuelling the rush to withdraw savings.
The banking sector faces a growing crisis of non-performing loans, officially totalling 13.6 trillion roubles (£113 billion, $174 billion, €155 billion). Major state lenders Sberbank and VTB report bad loan ratios exceeding 14 percent, well above the 10 percent threshold economists consider terminal for banking institutions.
Sberbank alone holds 3 trillion roubles in troubled debt.
The systemwide strain is compounded by inflation, high interest rates and business closures, with half of midsize and small enterprises shutting down and the remainder operating off the books.
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