From the beginning of the year to September, Russians transferred a colossal amount of money abroad, reports the state news agency RIA Novosti with reference to official data, the independent publication The Insider reports.

In the first nine months of the year, Russians took more than 30 billion dollars out of the country, which is an absolute record in the entire history of statistics of the Bank of Russia.

The most money, $6.7 billion, was transferred in September, and according to analysts, this was the result of the announcement of partial mobilization by Russian President Vladimir Putin, which also led to a wave of emigration from Russia.

Since the beginning of the war, Russians have withdrawn more money from abroad.

In February, when Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine, Russian citizens withdrew $4.3 billion, only to see it fall due to restrictions imposed by Russia’s central bank.

How much money do Russians have in foreign bank accounts?

Strict measures of the regulator managed to temporarily restrain the outflow of funds from Russia, but a significant surge occurred in the summer, when restrictions were further eased, and accounts in foreign banks were replenished with $5.2 billion.

The Central Bank of Russia has not yet provided data for October.

At the beginning of 2022, Russians had only $30.6 billion in foreign bank accounts, according to statistics from the Central Bank of Russia.

Thus, in less than a year, citizens of Russia managed to double this amount.