Russia To Seize 60T Rubles of Citizens Deposits if Sanctions Get Worse

Key Insights

• The country already gave this response against the threats of sanctions on February 21
• Russia has about 14 trillion Rubles and another $1.1 trillion stored outside the country, which could be confiscated
• This seizure could be the ultimate push for its citizens to turn to cryptocurrency

The State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), Nikolai Arefiev, made this statement. He declared that the funds deposited by Russian citizens would be used in case of a new economic crisis.

Russian Citizens’ Money Under Threat

The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has created ripples of fear and conflict across the globe.

While the allies of Russia support the invasion, the supporters of Ukraine, including the likes of the USA and UK, have made their statements as well.

Along with the two countries, the European Union, too, stated that they would impose significant sanctions on Russia for their move.

However, Russia already has a plan in place, which is a threat to Ukraine’s allies and Russians as well. Nikolai Arefiev, in a statement to NEWS.ru, said:

“If they block all the funds that are abroad, then the government will have no choice but to seize all the deposits of the population – there are about 60 trillion rubles – in order to get out of the situation,”

Currently, Russia has about $640 billion in gold and foreign exchange reserves outside the country. Furthermore, oligarchs’ capital is stored abroad by 14 trillion rubles ($158 billion) and another $470 billion capital.

Should these funds be confiscated, Russia intends to pull the trigger on its citizens to rebuild its economy. When asked about whether or not citizens’ would return this money to the citizens, Arefiev stated:

“Five generations will pass until the state pays off, by that time inflation will devour all this.”

Russians Could Turn to Crypto

The ongoing war-affected stock markets and the crypto market, and more than $150 billion were almost wiped out. Regardless this could be the opportunity for crypto (such as Bitcoin) to become the knight in shining armor for Russians.

To protect their money from being seized, Russians could very much withdraw it and store it in a more secure asset.

When we talk about cryptocurrency being a secure asset here, it does not mean secure as an investment. Instead, it is secure in the sense that the government won’t be able to seize the cryptocurrencies, so citizens’ money would be safe.

Thanks to the anonymity and decentralization of crypto, their money would remain secured far away from the CPRF. And when the time is right, they can liquidate and gain their money back.

Plus, thanks to the borderless existence of crypto, Russians can withdraw this money anywhere in the world where crypto isn’t banned.

Thus crypto could be the Russians’ savior should their government backstab.