The Moscow Times reports:
“Russians’ cash savings (in rubles) have reached an all-time low of 15.9 trillion rubles ($152.15 billion) so far this year due to high interest rates, the country’s second-largest bank VTB, said Wednesday. (4 Dec)”
Apparently, a big driver of the recent fall in the ruble (briefly hitting 115 to the dollar), was Russians rushing to buy foreign currency after the last round of US sanctions, that included GazpromBank.
I misconstrued the Russian Central Bank Statement at that time, about their activities in the foreign exchange market.
I thought that they had stopped intervening to support the ruble by buying rubles (because they lacked the funds to continue), and that is why it dropped.
I now believe that what they actually said, was that they would not be buying any foreign currency through the end of the year - that it was a measure to support the ruble, in reaction to a surge of individuals moving to exchange their rubles for foreign currency, bringing the ruble exchange rate down.
So popular sentiment in Russia seems (rightfully) to be worried about the value of the ruble. They might be spooked into a greater stampede, by future sanctions and shocks.
and about 94 billion in foreign currency in dollar equivalent.
https://russiacalling.ru/news/2024-12-04-h-ru/
With 143 M Russians this is on average about $1,000 in cash saving in Rubbles and $ 660 in foreign currency. It's very little, and given that the total also includes the money of the oligarchs, in reality it's hardly anything for Ivan and Ivanka.