Well, well, well. Look at Russian President Vladimir Putin has wrought on this people.
Since he decided to wage an unprovoked war on Ukraine, the world community has imposed severe sanctions on Russia and the effects are starting to be felt by the Russian people.
The Guardian reported:
As markets opened in a panic on Monday, many Russians rushed to local cashpoints in Moscow to retrieve their savings before the damage got any worse.
“It said they had dollars so I came here immediately,” said Alexei Presnyakov, 32, pointing to an app for Russia’s Tinkoff Bank, indicating he could withdraw hard currency. About 20 people were queued in line. “Yesterday [the rate] was 80 [to the dollar]. Today it’s 100. Or 150.”
“I just made a spontaneous decision today that I would ask [out of work] and go around until I took out all my money,” he said. “Before it was worth zero.”
Within minutes, however, the word traveled down the queue: the dollars were gone.
Nearly half the queue walked off. “Who needs roubles?” one woman said sarcastically as she walked away.
From shopping malls to corporate boardrooms, Russians were trying to find their footing on Monday in what the Kremlin described as the “altered economic reality” that the country was now facing following sanctions on Russia’s Central Bank and other key financial institutions. There were signs that something extraordinary was taking place: the Moscow Exchange, Russia’s largest stock market, has halted trading until 5 March.
For many Russians, who felt themselves to be European by the food they ate and the way they lived, it’s clear that Monday marked a moment when the war came home.
The Russian people had better start seriously thinking about ousting Putin from office before the Russian economy totally collapses.
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