Panicked Russians withdrew 100 billion rubles from banks during the Wagner revolt, central bank says

• Russians withdrew over $1 billion worth of rubles from domestic banks during the Wagner revolt, its country's central bank said.
• That number accounts for one fifth of all outflows in June.

The Wagner Group's march on Moscow late last month sparked a massive surge in withdrawals from the country's banks, Russia's central bank said on Tuesday.

Whereas 500 billion rubles moved out of banks throughout June, a fifth of that was pulled from June 23-25. That's as the Wagner Group, a mercenary organization led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, turned its forces towards the Russian capital after disputes arose with the nation's top brass.

Though the act ended after a day, the political uncertainty it set off prompted fearful Russians to withdraw $1.1 billion worth of rubles. According to the Russian central bank, that's the highest cash demanded since late 2022, when Russia introduced a military mobilization decree.

The bank signaled that there were no policy disruptions caused by the liquidity outflows, though it may take the event into account when considering future banking operations.

Wagner's uprising also pushed Russians to search for foreign alternatives to the ruble, with demand for foreign money surging 70-80% in some regions and helping to push the ruble to a 15-month low against the dollar.

Speaking on Thursday at a St. Petersburg conference, Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina indicated no plans to step in and support the ruble's exchange rate. In her outlook, its slide is the cause of an imbalance of trade.