Ukrainians are once again allowed to exchange Russian rubles, but only non-cash transactions are permitted

From today, February 7, 2024, Ukrainian enterprises and individuals are allowed to conduct the sale/exchange of non-cash Russian and Belarusian rubles for hryvnias.

This was stated in Resolution No. 17 issued by the National Bank, which was published by the regulator yesterday evening.

The law on this matter (No. 3498 IX) was passed at the end of December 2023, and the corresponding subordinate act (the resolution of the National Bank of Ukraine) has appeared only now.

Ruble currency exchange is allowed only on a one-time basis for each account holder and only in non-cash form. Cash banknotes cannot be brought to banks. Non-cash Russian rubles can be exchanged once, and Belarusian rubles can be exchanged once. The National Bank of Ukraine does not promise additional attempts, probably expecting people to exchange all remaining rubles in their accounts at once.

The right to one-time ruble currency exchange is granted until December 31, 2024.

The last time the National Bank of Ukraine provided data on ruble accounts was at the end of November 2023, and at that time, there were Russian rubles in Ukraine totaling (in equivalent) 1.9 billion hryvnias (more than 47 million euros):

• Legal entities: 1.74 billion hryvnias (more than 43 million euros);
• Individuals: 141 million hryvnias (about 3.5 million euros).

There were much fewer Belarusian rubles – 2 million hryvnias (about 49.5 thousand euros), and almost all of these funds were on the accounts of legal entities.

By the same resolution, the National Bank of Ukraine allowed Ukrainian banks to conduct currency exchange of rubles at their correspondent banks so that Russian and Belarusian currency exchanged by clients could be sold. The only condition is that the partner bank is not from Russia or Belarus and is not under sanctions.

Furthermore, by the aforementioned Resolution No. 17, the National Bank of Ukraine allowed financiers to simplify the procedure for removing operations from currency control for the supply of goods falling under humanitarian aid and properly documented. Companies will be required to provide fewer and less frequent additional documents for imported goods.

It is worth reminding that the exchange of Russian and Belarusian rubles and all other operations with them were prohibited in Ukraine since February 24, 2022.