Following an agreement to exclude Russia from the global payments system SWIFT in a tough Western response to the country's invasion of Ukraine, videos circulating online showed hundreds of Russians queuing outside the country's ATMs in an ostensible bank run, suggestive of collective national anxiety.
People were seen waiting in long, twisting lines in an apparent race to stock up on cash before they potentially lost access to international banking infrastructure. One video captured ATM queues snaking all through the building, as Russian masses lined up to make withdrawals.
In the wake of a barrage of economic sanctions against the country -- the most aggressive one so far being the West's move to freeze Russia out of international payments -- the video appeared to be indicative of internal panic sweeping across Russia. NDTV is unable to independently verify the authenticity of the video.
On Saturday, as the Russian military stepped up its assault on Ukrainian cities, Western allies sought to cripple the country's banking sector by cutting selected banks from SWIFT -- an international system used to transfer money -- thereby severely impeding Russia's ability to trade with most of the world.
More than 11,000 financial institutions in over 200 countries use SWIFT, making it the backbone of the international financial transfer system. According to the national association Rosswift, Russia is the second-largest country following the United States in terms of the number of users, with some 300 Russian financial institutions belonging to the system.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its pro-Western neighbour Ukraine on Thursday, targeting cities with weapons strikes and forcing residents to flee for their lives. The UN estimates that, in the span of four days, the invasion has already created about 400,000 Ukrainian refugees.
With Russian forces hitting Ukrainian cities with artillery and cruise missiles in an unwavering attack, Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Lyashko on Saturday said that 198 civilians, including three children, had been killed in the conflict, while 1,115 people had been wounded so far.
The invasion has triggered a backlash in Russia with the police detaining more than 900 people at anti-war protests in 44 Russian cities on Sunday, raising the total detained since the start of the assault four days ago to over 4,000, independent protest monitoring group OVD-Info said.
