The West is preparing packages of sanctions against Russia, and if, as a result of its actions, state funds abroad are blocked, the savings of Russians could be confiscated.
This is the opinion of NEWS.ru expressed State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Nikolai Arefiev.
Russia has 640 billion dollars of gold and foreign exchange reserves, which, according to the deputy, are “abroad”, and the capital of the oligarchs, which Arefiev estimates at 470 billion dollars. At the same time, the West is discussing sanctions up to restrictions on foreign exchange transactions and the shutdown of SWIFT.
“If all funds that are abroad are blocked, then the government will have no other choice but to seize all the deposits of the population,” Arefyev said.
According to the deputy, we are talking about the amount of about 60 trillion rubles. And this money may be required “to get out of the situation.”
Where the estimate of 60 trillion came from, Arefiev did not explain. According to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the total amount of deposits of Russians in banks is almost half that – 34.6 trillion rubles. Of this amount, 27.8 trillion are placed on ruble accounts and deposits, and another 92.8 billion dollars – on foreign currency (as of January 1).
In addition, according to Rosstat, 14.1 trillion rubles were “stashed under mattresses” by citizens of the Russian Federation in the form of cash savings. Of these, 8.7 trillion rubles – in rubles, and the rest – in foreign currency (about 74.6 billion dollars).
