Deposits in Ukrainian banks can no longer be replenished in rubles. The state explains this by caring for the rights and freedoms of citizens.
This follows from NBU Resolution No. 103, published on the bank’s official website, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The resolution, which came into force at the end of November, was adopted on October 8. According to it, the previously adopted instructions on conducting cash transactions were supplemented with a new paragraph:
“The bank (branch, department) is prohibited from carrying out cash transactions to accept cash in foreign currency of the occupying state for crediting to deposit accounts of individuals for the period of validity of the Law of Ukraine “On ensuring the rights and freedoms of citizens and the legal regime in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine” .
Thus, bank deposits can no longer be replenished in rubles. However, the document does not say anything about currency exchange, that is, the ruble can still be exchanged within the country for any other currency.
“The decision to ban the Russian ruble was made a long time ago, and now it has only just come into force. It is unlikely that anyone will seriously suffer from such a decision now. It could have hit someone's interests in 2014, but not now. I don’t even know that Ukrainian banks offer such a product – deposits in Russian rubles. I think this resolution is more propaganda than some real measure to combat the Russian ruble,” political scientist Alexander Semchenko said in a comment to a PolitNavigator correspondent.