Russians withdrew around €24.4 billion from the country’s banking system in the first seven months of 2026, as fears grew that the Kremlin could freeze or seize private savings to help finance the war in Ukraine. EuroNews reports, citing The Washington Post.
Demand for cash began rising in March and has continued to grow, with around 300 billion roubles (€3.05 billion) leaving bank accounts each month. Five of Russia’s seven largest banks have recorded net outflows of individual deposits.
Gazprombank has been hit hardest, losing 299.5 billion roubles (€3.04 billion), or 10.8% of its deposits, over four months. Rosselkhozbank lost 270.5 billion roubles (€2.75 billion), while Alfa-Bank saw 179.4 billion roubles (€1.82 billion) withdrawn.
Sberbank also recorded significant outflows, with 211.6 billion roubles (€2.15 billion) leaving deposits in June and another 31.8 billion roubles (€323 million) in July. T-Bank was the exception, recording a 193 billion-rouble (€1.96 billion) increase in deposits.
The Bank of Russia reported that cash in circulation increased by 643.4 billion roubles (€6.53 billion) in July alone, the largest monthly rise since the beginning of the year. A further 300 billion roubles was withdrawn during the first half of August.
The withdrawals are being driven by concerns over the impact of Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia’s economy and fears that the government could freeze or nationalise private deposits to cover rising war-related costs.
The concerns have been reinforced by recent asset seizures. Russian prosecutors transferred about $51.5 billion (€44.3 billion) in private assets to state control in 2025, while authorities seized around $7.6 billion (€6.5 billion) in assets linked to billionaire Vadim Moshkovich in June.
Russia’s economic outlook has also weakened. GDP grew by 0.3% in the first half of 2026, compared with 1.2% during the same period last year, based on Russian government data that cannot be independently verified.
The current withdrawals echo the rush to withdraw cash that followed Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, although the present trend is reportedly larger and more prolonged.
