Cash Is Back in Russia as Internet Blackouts Hit Payments

Cash is making a comeback in Russia as digital payments grow more unreliable with frequent mobile internet outages the Kremlin says are aimed at countering the threat of Ukrainian drone attacks.

The amount of cash in circulation jumped by about 600 billion rubles ($8 billion) in April. That’s the biggest monthly increase — excluding annual spikes in December — since September 2022, when President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization for the war in Ukraine, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data from the Bank of Russia.