If Western sanctions go too far, Russia could seize retail deposits, Error or Truth?

According to Nikolai Arefiev, a member of Russia’s Communist Party and vice-chairman of the Duma’s economic policy committee, retail customers may lose their investments if harsh Western sanctions are imposed as Russian armies invade Ukraine.

Arefiev said in an interview with the local news outlet News.ru on Monday that if Western countries decide to ban all of Russia’s foreign funds, the Russian government might seize around 60 trillion rubles ($750 billion) worth of people’s deposits.

Notably, Russia has $640 billion in gold and foreign exchange reserves stored overseas. 

“If all the foreign funds are blocked, the government will have no other choice but to seize all the deposits of the population, or 60 trillion rubles in order to solve the situation,” the official remarked.

He also indicated that prospective sanctions on Russia include a possible severance from SWIFT and barriers to foreign exchange.

As TheCoinRise reported, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” in Ukraine, potentially triggering a series of sanctions against Russia’s top banks, including state-owned Sberbank and VTB.

The error said that Sberbank is added to the U.S. sanctions list

According to local media, Sberbank made an error on Thursday night when it announced that it had been added to the U.S. sanctions list but later deleted the notice, claiming that the announcement was erroneous and was caused due to a “website crash.”

Sberbank’s website states that the bank is operating as usual and that clients and legal organizations have complete access to their funds and services.

The notice states:

“We are ready for any development of the situation and have worked out scenarios to guarantee the protection of the funds, assets, and interests of our clients, as well as to ensure the regular operation of all our functions.”

As the market plunged after the recent announcement by Vladimir Putin, the crypto community took the discussion to social media platforms like Twitter to express their concerns over the situation.