President Vladimir Putin has banned Russians from having more than $10,000 with them when leaving the country as his government struggles to keep money inside the country amidst biting sanctions and financial woes.

Mr Putin said the rule limiting cash movement was a reaction to “unfriendly” steps taken by the U.S. and other Western countries. Russia faces harsh sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine.

The rule affects the movement of foreign currency too. It seems designed to make sure that people attempting to leave Russia do not take all their hard currency along with them as the sanctions bite harder.

Long queues are now common at cash machines that still have banknotes as people withdraw their holdings.

Prices of imported goods are shooting up, and people are trying to purchase items like new phones before they become unaffordable.

Last February, U.S. President Joe Biden announced the first tranche of sanctions on Russia, following Mr Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Mr Biden, in a speech from the White House, said the Russian leader had committed “a flagrant violation of international law.”

“I’m announcing the first tranche of sanctions to impose costs on Russia in response to their actions… These have been closely coordinated with our allies and partners, and we’ll continue to escalate sanctions if Russia escalates,” explained the U.S. president. “We’re implementing full blocking sanctions on two large Russian financial institutions: V.E.B. and their military bank.”

He added, “We’re implementing comprehensive sanctions on Russian sovereign debt. That means we’ve cut off Russia’s government from Western financing. It can no longer raise money from the West and cannot trade in its new debt on our markets or European markets either.”

(dpa/NAN)