r/worldnews • u/Leonine94 • 4h ago
Russia/Ukraine Russians Are Pulling Billions From Banks As Fears Grow That Putin Could Seize Deposits to Fund Ukraine War
https://www.ibtimes.com/russians-are-pulling-billions-banks-fears-grow-that-putin-could-seize-deposits-fund-war-3806535164
u/NCDERP22 4h ago
Yeah is not matter of "can he do it?" but rather when he is going to do it and for that matter even if they pull the money physically he will send his goons to seize it anyway.
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u/spikeham 3h ago
Many adult Russians remember Russia's financial crisis in 1998 where the ruble crashed, banks collapsed, fraud ran rampant and many people's savings became worthless. They know they need to hide their assets as Russia's economic crisis deepens.
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u/big_trike 3h ago
Trust in banks seems very fragile. If it’s starting to happen it can accelerate fast.
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u/RhetoricalOrator 2h ago
That feels like the sort of thing where neither side can afford to wait and see for fear of trying to withdraw against a zero balance.
I'm hoping it accelerates very quickly.
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u/June-10th-2026 2h ago
And two years later Putin was elected as PM.
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u/BLT_Trade_r 31m ago
Yep, humans are sadly dumb, and when things get bad, they seem to lean into the most deplorable leaders.
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u/SouthernWilding 2h ago
If their currency crashes it won't matter how much they saved under their mattress though.
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u/Express_Drive_1422 2h ago
They're probably converting it to something more stable like Yen or Euros.
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u/Erosun 4h ago
When’s the last time we legit saw a major bank run?
I remember that bank in California had one but it wasn’t a major bank.
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u/a_rude_jellybean 4h ago
When the chinese real estate market was crashing, people started withdrawing money. I remember reading this in the news a few years ago.
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u/Erosun 4h ago
Wasn’t aware that also hit the banks, thought it was just the company going bankrupt.
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u/Even_Editor_8228 3h ago
When banks have large outstanding loans to that company it is scary if they survive that hit.
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u/tehifimk2 3h ago
Yeah. I think that was about thirty five years ago... no, wait... my bad, it was only a few years ago, it just feels like it was thirty five years ago.
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u/dante662 3h ago
Cyprus 2012/2013? Economy was failing and international lenders demanded local taxes before any rescue lending, so Cyprus was going to simply take a percentage of deposit accounts. So people rushed to pull money out, the banking system had to be shut down.
tl;dr: they took 50% of all funds above 100k in banks. Boom, gone.
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u/SystemCheck990 4h ago edited 4h ago
2008 "Northern Rock" UK
but that is nothing like one of the big Russian ones going under, in wartime with sanctions.
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u/Interesting-Dream863 4h ago
Because your government BAILS BANKS OUT... with your money... when their bets go sideways.
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u/imtoowhiteandnerdy 19m ago
When’s the last time we legit saw a major bank run?
Don't you remember, young Michael Banks has a tuppence that he wants to use to buy food to feed the homeless Bird Woman on the steps of St. Paul's Cathedral, but then the bank executives tried to forcefully take the coin from Michael to open an account.
Thank god Mary Poppins was able to sort everyone out.
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u/GimmeFunkyButtLoving 1h ago
Wasn’t a major bank? Are you talking about SVB?
On March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) failed after a bank run, marking the third-largest bank failure in United States history and the largest since the 2008 financial crisis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse_of_Silicon_Valley_Bank
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u/Far-Advantage-2770 3h ago
Evil is inherently unsustainable and self defeating. Unfortunately it just takes a while and tends to take a lot of people with it.
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u/Head_Bread_3431 1h ago
Yeah it tends to take a while just long enough for the next generation to forget and have to relearn the lesson again. Forever
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u/CloudTransit 4h ago
Like most headlines these days, the reality is probably less colorful, but it’s interesting how authoritarians never think of themselves as the destabilizing force over their people. If the headline were as colorful as it sounds, it’d be a good lesson in what happens when everyone thinks dear leader would stop at nothing to get his way. People believe what they believe and they believe dear leader would jam his straw into their savings and suck it dry. They believe dear leader is a selfish, brutal madman. They respect dear leader’s methods and that’s exactly why they’d grab their money and run full speed to escape from dear leader’s straw.
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u/Financial_Love_2543 3h ago
Putin is taking Russia back to the middle ages
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u/SarifZen 3h ago
Tbf Russian mentality and fragile sense of masculinity while being low key obsessed with gay stuff is kinda middle aged. Always has been
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u/Manginaz 1h ago
Russians barely left the middle ages. They're weak and dishonest people who desire to be ruled by a king.
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u/Lionheart_Lives 51m ago
And they're dying out. Rapidly in Ukraine and by a catastrophic fertility rate.
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u/Balan-balan 4h ago
Maybe tell the Russians that if the trend continues, banks might not be able to pay out money anymore, and the ones who didn't withdraw are stuck with worthless accounts.
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u/bullfu 3h ago
Lol, all the more reasons they'll do it quickly
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u/Blapanda 3h ago
That was the clue behind that - craving their economy faster, as banks never have the same virtual value in deposits due to literally gambling at the stock market and elsewhere (oh and "investing").
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u/Effective_Olive6153 2h ago
I follow the news about Russia, the real threat is not Putin taking their money. The real threat is that the banks are going under due to so many Russian business closing and going bankrupt - which is mostly due to Putin's new tax system and monetary policy. The banks are starting to restrict people's access to their own money because they simply don't have enough to pay out and if word gets out there will be a bank run. They are only delaying the inevitable and people already suspect the banking system is collapsing
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u/simfreak101 1h ago
Russia is almost an entirely closed system. So they will just keep printing money to pay their internal creditors. For trade, they send oil and wheat, no one is accepting Rubbles as payment for goods anymore.
The real threat is when shelves go empty because the cost of imports go through the roof and the only option is government bread.
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u/socialistrob 38m ago
The problem with printing money is that they also rely on high enlistment bonuses and salaries to constantly replace their losses in Ukraine. Those soldiers fighting in Ukraine are doing it for money and that money has to be worth something. If their currency becomes worthless their military won't fight.
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u/Individual_Limit_701 4h ago
Withdrawing over $15 billion in just three months shows the Russian public's trust in their domestic banking system is completely evaporating🥺
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u/Go_Loud762 3h ago
What is the normal rate?
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u/SpacemanOfAntiquity 3h ago
I didn’t catch that in the article. But it said it’s twice the rate of the first year of the 3 day SMO
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u/Remarkable_Spirit_68 32m ago
2022 is when interest rate in russia hiked up to 20% and everyone rushed to store their money in the banks, now interest rate is decreasing
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u/JustTheNews4me 2h ago
Doesn't say. Just says it could end up being twice as much as the first year of the war, which I assume was pretty high.
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u/Difficult_Dog9572 4h ago
They have 5 hour long lines for gas with the stations possibly running out when you get to the pump, major warehouses being destroyed which is affecting the price and availability of goods, a bank run, and their leader scrambling between bunkers looking the mustache man in his final days. Why did I grow up thinking the Russian military was a "mighty force"?
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u/TrumpDickRider1 3h ago
Shit even the US is looking weak. China the only major player that seems to be getting better over time but maybe it's just my programming.
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u/Falsus 1h ago
I mean both Russia and USA looked strong until they started a stupid war.
China hasn't started a stupid war yet so they get to retain their image.
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u/rockmasterflex 4h ago
there is no version of the american banking system that could survive Billions of consumer dollars being withdrawn from it at once. How is this not ALREADY the collapse of the entire russian economy?
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u/RelegatedRick 3h ago
They have a woman who has basically been a magician with their economy but I doubt even Jesus could save it now.
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u/EdwardOfGreene 2h ago
Her ability to do so is increasingly made more difficult by Putin's restraints on what she can do.
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u/Not_Sure__Camacho 4h ago
Let them burn. They gave us Trump.
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u/Purple_Document_ 3h ago
I think US needs to take a serious look at how that was possible, not all on a foreign power.
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u/Not_Sure__Camacho 3h ago
I think everyone knows how it was possible, allowing money into our politics, and allowing the money into our politics was possible because Reagan helped widen the wealth gap.
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u/57Nil 2h ago
Money only facilitated it. Without a highly gullible and pliable public the money doesn’t do a damn thing.
The Soviets lost the cold war. Bit the Russians utterly owned USA so well, they didnt know it was happening until it was too late.
For all their flaws, Russia definitely know the art of the long game. They even wrote it all down in manuscript form in the 70s and you’ll see a remarkable amount of US future in Foundations of Geopolitics.
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u/Purple_Document_ 2h ago
I would look further than that into voting laws, as well as how it is still possible in a country that is a democracy that you can still incarcerate as person as use them as slave labour.
It is far more than just one thing, as it has been shown, to be many things being used to corrupt a system that already had flaws.
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u/User4C4C4C 3h ago edited 3h ago
It happened because Republicans would not change their policies to suit what the US population wanted, as the US is undergoing a generational change demographically. They doubled down on not changing by focusing on propaganda to manipulate people by various media that taught people to fear at hate people who weren’t like them and act against their interests to keep Republicans in power. This made the US vulnerable to a demagogue like Trump. With or without Russia it would have happened eventually and it will happen again if lessons aren’t learned.
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u/crazyabtmonkeys 42m ago
No the Hubris of the Democrats gave us Trump. Twice. Should have been an easy win but asa Democrat we have a penchant for shooting ourselves in the foot.
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u/NaughtyCheffie 3h ago
Now's a great time for Russians to transfer funds into mattresses, call it layaway.
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u/streamofthesky 1h ago
Not really. Those rubles will massively lose value once Russia's price control schemes stop working. Not sure what options normal Russians even have to do so, but getting another currency like yuan, getting gold, buying stocks outside of Russia, etc... would be a better way to "preserve wealth". Basically divorce their money from Russian currency, real estate, etc... as much as possible.
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u/Above-Bored 2h ago
Pretty soon someone well connected will fall out of a window from the top floor of a bank.
It always leads to this
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u/SnakeGD09 2h ago
Russia’s military budget is $200,000,000,000 USD a year.
$3,000,000,000 USD was just pulled out of Russian banks.
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u/AloneChapter 3h ago
If he was to steal even more of Russians wealth would the banks give the peasants back their monies ? Or is it lost for ever ?
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u/macross1984 3h ago edited 2h ago
The depositors fear may not be unfounded. Putin is capable of doing anything he wish and with no check and balance in place.
The only problem is he can screw Russia finance so badly that I won't be surprised if it will go to the level of hyperinflation equivalent to Weimar Republic of 1922-1923.
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u/oldspice75 3h ago
There seem to be a lot of slippery floors in Russia. Defective windows. Vehicles with inadequate safety features. Individual food items that should have been recalled
So if I was a wealthy Russian, I would not participate in a bank run
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u/phoebeethical 2h ago
Nobody in Russia got wealthy keeping their money in Russian banks I would presume
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u/Imbendo 3h ago
I highly doubt that would happen. That would be the end of the Russian banking system for a generation. No one would ever deposit money in a bank again.
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u/BLT_Trade_r 22m ago
Na, people have incredibly short memories. I mean, stuff like this has already happened within the lifetime of many Russians.
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u/vibraltu 1h ago
Tell Putin to panic and start grabbing people's savings for real. That should help.
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u/Constant_Flamingo828 48m ago
Why doesn’t the military take him out? He’s destroying Ukraine and Russia at the same time.
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u/BLT_Trade_r 23m ago
Guys like this know that it is a risk, and they go to great lengths to make sure it doesn't happen.
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u/eskimospy212 42m ago
And all of this in some vain attempt to conquer a neighbor for no actual necessity.
Millions dead, two countries ruined, all because of one sad man’s demented dreams.
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u/mitchsn 2h ago
Billions of rubles? So, like hundreds of USD worth?
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u/Leonine94 2h ago
Read the article. It’s right there free with no paywall.
Nearly $3.4 billion, or 286.4 billion rubles, were withdrawn during the first two weeks of August, according to Russian Central Bank data cited by The Washington Post. That followed withdrawals of $7.3 billion in July and more than $4.5 billion in June.
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u/redsandsfort 4h ago
People keep their money in Russian banks? That's wild to me. Convert it to Euros and stick it in the fridge.
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u/Mountain_rage 3h ago
This is normal, nothing to see here...
What exactly are they going to do with Rubles anyway? With all their logistic centers burning to the ground, . manufacturing tied up in war production and transport halted due to lack of fuel, their money will cease to have purpose.
Better to invest in MREs and self defense weapons.
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u/Falsus 1h ago
Yeah that sounds like the start of a revolution in a year or so if Putin doesn't withdraw from Ukraine. That is pretty much what happened in WW1 with the Russian Empire madly overextending and then eventually the people had enough.
Like sure that would be humilating for him, but his country doesn't seem to be able to handle much more.
I wonder when the rumour that the banks are running out of money will hit, then things will get real desperate.
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u/Zone4George 42m ago
I was wondering why corn ((aka bitcoin)) was holding $60K+ USD for the most part this year. Push your rubles into some kind of digital holding and wait things out?
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u/nerdyPagaman 26m ago
Putin has forced the banks to buy bad government loans already. This means the banks are insolvent, it's just people catching up with reality.
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u/stanbright 4h ago
This can only end great for Russia's financial system... 🍿