International reporting
Russia: those who manage to circumvent banking sanctions
Audio 02:32
Passers-by in a Moscow street.
Despite the shutdown of SWIFT, the international transfer system for 10 Russian banks (and four Belarusians), the withdrawal of Visa and Mastercard from the market, some users manage to circumvent the banking sanctions imposed on Russia.
(illustrative image) © AP/Alexander Zemlianichenko
By: Anissa El Jabri Follow
3 mins
It has been six months since the special operation in Ukraine – as the Kremlin says – began.
In response, Western countries decided on several waves of sanctions.
Among those that have had the most concrete and immediate impact on the lives of Russians: banking sanctions.
However, some have already found how to sometimes circumvent this banking iron curtain, even if it also often costs more.
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From our correspondent in Moscow,
As a Russian consultant managing projects in Russia with Russian companies, on paper Tatiana, 43, was not necessarily on the front line for the sanctions backlash.
Except that like many executives, part of his activity was based on American tools.
“
My company has been using Google apps for 13 years
,” says Tatiana.
“
We had stored all our documentation, all our archives there.
When Mastercard left, we no longer had the option of paying for these services, and we had to manage urgently
,” she recalls.
The need for a Mastercard for personal use
Tatiana managed to switch all her documentation in a few weeks before Google's final shutdown on Yandex, its Russian equivalent.
The services are similar, she says.
But for her personal use, this businesswoman likes to order from Amazon.
Tatiana wanted to find her Mastercard and an account with several currencies.
“
I started in the spring to look at which foreign banks I could open an account.
It was clear to me that it would necessarily be easier in a country that already has trade agreements with Russia
, ”she explains.
Then she adds: “
And I immediately thought that the simplest would be the National Bank of Kyrgyzstan, because I knew that they have a branch in Moscow
.
»
Within a week, the deal was done.
Tatiana, however, had to pay for a round-trip plane ticket and one night's hotel in Kyrgyzstan, but everything works, with low bank charges.
Kazakhstan currency transfers to an online wallet
Valentina is a 28-year-old artist with a passion for 10 years: video games.
For her favorite hobby, she spends an average of 2,000 rubles per month (37 euros at the current rate), but there too, with the sanctions, it is no longer possible to pay for her online games.
The solution, Valentina found it in two clicks on the Internet and this time it involves transfers in Kazakh currency.
“
I use a sort of online wallet.
On it, I have an account in rubles in which I put money and an account in tenge, the Kazakh currency
,” says Valentina.
“
I transfer the rubles to the account in tenge and so I pay for my games.
It obviously costs me money because there is a bank commission on transfers, but it's around 50 rubles, so it's not really a problem
,” she tempers.
Fifty rubles, less than one euro.
Tatiana has so far only purchased two e-books with her Mastercard.
One of them is written by an American expert in geopolitics who had already, several years ago, predicted that Vladimir Putin would send soldiers to Ukraine.
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