Russians Line Up To Buy US Dollars As Ruble Plummets After New Sanctions

Russians lined up to purchase U.S. dollars after the Moscow Exchange enforced an immediate suspension of trading in dollars and euros in response to fresh U.S. sanctions, a video circulating on social media appears to show.

Russia's central bank said Wednesday that exchange trading and settlements of deliverable instruments in U.S. dollars and euros were suspended effective June 13 "due to the introduction of restrictive measures by the United States against the Moscow Exchange Group." It added that over-the-counter trading data would be used to set official exchange rates for the currencies.

The move followed the U.S. Treasury's expansion of an executive order issued by President Joe Biden in December that allows Washington to directly sanction foreign banks facilitating significant transactions for Russia. The U.S. threatened to block banks that conduct business with firms that support Russia's defense industry from its financial system.

"In St. Petersburg, a line formed at a [money] exchanger after the news about the suspension of currency trading on the Moscow Exchange," Russian Telegram channel Bankrollo wrote, sharing footage of people in a queue. Bankrollo has more than 300,000 subscribers and posts updates about Russia's economy and banks.

The Moscow Exchange, Russia's leading financial marketplace, said Wednesday that companies and individuals can continue to buy and sell U.S. dollars and euros through Russian banks.

"All funds in U.S. dollars and euros in the accounts and deposits of citizens and companies remain safe," it said.

"The dollar rate is flying up in many banks," the Bankrollo channel said in a separate post. "Norvik Bank has set a new dollar exchange rate—the bank buys at 50 rubles and sells at 200."

Data at the end of the trading day on June 11 showed that the dollar on the Moscow Exchange was 89.10 rubles, and the euro—95.62 rubles. June 12 was a public holiday and trading was therefore suspended.

The footage of people lining up to purchase dollars was also shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, by Jason Jay Smart, a political adviser on post-Soviet and international politics, who wrote: "Ruble is collapsing. In St. Petersburg, Russia lines are forming at money changers after the news broke about the new US sanctions that caused the suspension of currency trading on the Moscow Exchange."

The Eastern European outlet Visegrád 24 said the video showed "panic in Russia."

Newsweek reached out to Russia's Foreign Ministry via email for comment.

The U.S. has gradually expanded the sanctions it has imposed against Russia throughout President Vladimir Putin's full-scale war in Ukraine, which he launched in February 2022. Russia's economy took a hit after foreign exchange reserves were frozen and Moscow was cut off from the SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) banking system.

Janet Yellen, U.S. treasury secretary, said Wednesday that Washington is "increasing the risk for financial institutions dealing with Russia's war economy and eliminating paths for evasion, and diminishing Russia's ability to benefit from access to foreign technology, equipment, software, and IT services."

"Every day, Russia continues to mortgage its future to sustain its unjust war of choice against Ukraine," she said.

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