During the Wagner Rebellion, Russians Withdrew 100 Billion Rubles in Cash from Banks - Central Bank

In June, the demand for cash increased in Russia, leading to an outflow of liquidity amounting to 500 billion rubles from banks. During the armed rebellion of the Wagner group from June 23-25, Russian citizens withdrew 100 billion rubles in cash, according to materials from the Bank of Russia, as reported by Kommersant.

The document states that the structural liquidity volume decreased by 400 billion rubles in June, reaching 0.5 trillion rubles. The Central Bank has maintained its forecast for the structural volume of liquidity by the end of 2023 to be in the range of 2.5 trillion to 3.1 trillion rubles.

The increase in the volume of cash in circulation does not pose issues related to monetary policy management, adds the Central Bank. The regulator considers liquidity outflow when determining parameters for transactions with banks.

It should be noted that on July 10, the Central Bank of Russia stated that the Wagner uprising had little impact on the exchange rate of the ruble, and the increase in volatility during those days was short-lived.

On June 23, the head of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced a "March of Justice" against Moscow. Russian authorities considered this an armed rebellion. The situation was resolved after negotiations involving Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on the evening of June 24. Five days later, on June 29, President Vladimir Putin met in the Kremlin with Prigozhin and commanders of the Wagner group.