MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian citizens withdrew 458 billion roubles ($7.5 billion) in cash from banks in September, with the bulk of the outflow recorded in the second half of the month when increased numbers of people were leaving the country, the central bank said on Thursday.
On Sept. 21, President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s first wartime mobilisation since World War Two as he sought to call up 300,000 people. Hundreds of thousands of people left Russia after the Kremlin announced what it called a “partial mobilisation”.
“People … tend to withdraw cash funds in a situation of stress or uncertainty, as it was, for example, at the beginning of the year, but then they usually return the money to the banks,” the central bank’s report said.
($1 = 61.3500 roubles)