Banks in Russia increased the exchange rate for foreign currency. Russian stocks plummet. Airfare prices abroad are exploding.
The armed uprising of notorious Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin is already making its mark on Russian financial and currency markets. On Saturday night, the big banks, which like other companies were hard hit by the war and sanctions, raised the exchange rate of foreign currencies and brought down the value of the ruble. While the central bank’s official exchange rate for a ruble on Friday was 84.08 rubles per dollar and 91.49 rubles per euro, the Russian currency dipped below 100 rubles against the two currencies at some banks on Saturday. . Rosbank, for example, charged 105 rubles for a dollar and 115 rubles for a euro, according to the Ria Novosti news agency. Industry service Banki.ru reports up to 200 rubles per dollar seen.
This brings back memories of the first few days after the start of the war in late February 2023, when the currency plummeted (officially at the time to over 120 rubles per dollar and over 130 rubles per euro) – before plummeting in the middle of the last year due to the strengthened external trade balance surplus.
The Wagner revolt also had a direct effect on the stock exchange. Shares of several companies collapsed on Friday night. That of the En+ utility or the Yandex Internet browser at over four percent, many others in the 3.5 percent range.
However, the accident gained momentum on Saturday morning. Data from Tinkoff Investizij app, quoted by financial news service Frank Media, show that Sberbank shares fell by 8.5%. In the second largest group in the Russian oil industry, Lukoil, it is almost twelve percent. In Yandex, more than minus 13 percent, in Gazprom, more than minus four percent. The broker then stopped trading on the OTC market.
Airfare prices soar
Russian-language business outlet The Bell reports that prices for airfare abroad, where Russians can still travel visa-free, soared on Saturday. The newspaper Kommersant calculates that prices for matches on Sunday increased from 2.5 to five times. A direct air ticket to the Armenian capital Yerevan for Saturday night costs more than 200,000 rubles, according to data from search engine Aviasales. After Istanbul, more than 130,000 rubles have to be forked out. With a transfer and a travel time of up to two days, you pay between a good 30,000 and almost 100,000 rubles. A plane ticket to Dubai, the favorite destination of wealthy Russians, currently costs 350,000 rubles (about 3,500 euros).