<\/p>\n
Revolut, an\u00a0online bank popular among expats in\u00a0the European Union, has started freezing accounts belonging to\u00a0Russian and Belarusian citizens. According to\u00a0the company, the measure is\u00a0an\u00a0effort to\u00a0comply with the latest package of\u00a0E.U. sanctions against Russia, which was adopted on\u00a0October 23. The abrupt move has left clients scrambling to\u00a0regain access to\u00a0their money. And those who have tried to\u00a0submit proof of\u00a0E.U. residency have been encountering technical problems, leaving them cut off from their funds for days. Meduza sums up\u00a0what we\u00a0know about the Revolut freeze. <\/p>\n
On\u00a0the night of\u00a0October 31, the online bank Revolut began sending<\/a> emails to\u00a0Russian clients asking for proof of\u00a0valid E.U. residency. Minutes later, many of\u00a0those same users received another message: their accounts had been frozen. The second email also stated that their banking agreements with Revolut would be\u00a0terminated on\u00a0December 31, 2025.<\/p>\n The restrictions targeted customers who had opened their accounts using E.U. residence permits or\u00a0long-term stay visas. With their accounts suspended, they could no\u00a0longer use their cards, deposit funds, withdraw cash from ATMs, or\u00a0transfer money to\u00a0other Revolut accounts.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear how many people have been affected. Mediazona reported<\/a> at\u00a0least five confirmed cases. Several Revolut clients also told Meduza, BBC News Russian<\/a>, and the outlet Volna<\/a> that they received similar notifications. According to<\/a> Zerkalo, Belarusian citizens are facing the same issue.<\/p>\n Our only hope is\u00a0you.\u00a0Support Meduza<\/a>\u00a0before it\u2019s too late.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Users who spoke to\u00a0Volna said that as\u00a0of\u00a0November 1, even those with valid E.U. residence permits couldn\u2019t upload documents to\u00a0restore access to\u00a0their accounts. Revolut\u2019s customer support did not respond promptly at\u00a0the time. Later, the company acknowledged<\/a> a\u00a0technical issue that temporarily prevented users from submitting documents through its system.<\/p>\n Revolut explained its decision as\u00a0an\u00a0effort to\u00a0comply with international sanctions imposed on\u00a0Russia over its ongoing invasion of\u00a0Ukraine. In\u00a0an\u00a0official statement to\u00a0BBC News Russian, the company said<\/a>:<\/p>\n As\u00a0a\u00a0globally regulated financial institution, Revolut must comply with the sanctions laws and regulations of\u00a0the United Nations, the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, and all other applicable laws and regulation in\u00a0jurisdictions in\u00a0which Revolut operates.<\/p>\n In\u00a0its messages to\u00a0customers, Revolut pointed to\u00a0the E.U.\u2019s 19th sanctions package against Russia, approved<\/a> in\u00a0late October, saying it\u00a0prohibits the company from providing \u201cpayment services or\u00a0electronic money services\u201d to\u00a0Russian and Belarusian citizens who do\u00a0not hold residency or\u00a0citizenship in\u00a0E.U. or\u00a0EEA countries, or\u00a0in\u00a0Switzerland.<\/p>\n The bloc\u2019s plan to\u00a0impose sanctions<\/a> against Russia that would affect third-country banks, crypto platforms, and digital currencies was announced back in\u00a0September. However, as\u00a0Deutsche Welle noted<\/a>, there had been no\u00a0reports of\u00a0similar restrictions for clients of\u00a0brick-and-mortar E.U. banks \u2014 suggesting that Revolut\u2019s actions might reflect its own \u201cinterpretation\u201d of\u00a0the sanctions.<\/p>\n Laughing all the way to\u00a0the Central Bank How skyrocketing gold prices support the Kremlin\u2019s war machine<\/a>Laughing all the way to\u00a0the Central Bank How skyrocketing gold prices support the Kremlin\u2019s war machine<\/a><\/p>\n A\u00a0multinational bank headquartered in\u00a0London, Revolut operates exclusively online and does not have physical branches. However, reporters from The Bell found<\/a> that the 19th E.U. sanctions package expands<\/a> the bloc\u2019s existing ban on\u00a0providing cryptocurrency-related services to\u00a0Russians by\u00a0adding two new categories: payment and electronic money services. This suggests, the outlet concluded, that Revolut\u2019s move wasn\u2019t arbitrary \u2014 and that other European payment services might soon follow suit.<\/p>\n Some crypto users have already encountered related restrictions. Andrey Avramenko, who runs the Telegram channel OhMySwift, wrote<\/a> that the crypto exchange Bybit stopped opening wallets for Russian citizens, citing one of\u00a0his followers\u2019 experiences.<\/p>\n According to\u00a0the company, the limitation applies<\/a> only to\u00a0Bybit EU, the exchange\u2019s platform for residents of\u00a0the European Economic Area. The site lists its services as\u00a0unavailable to\u00a0citizens of\u00a0Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and the United States. Meanwhile, the travel-focused Telegram channel Nu\u00a0che, narod, pognali! reported<\/a> that the global Bybit exchange has not imposed similar restrictions on\u00a0Russians. Its website only states<\/a> that services are unavailable in\u00a0Russian-occupied territories of\u00a0Ukraine.<\/p>\n On\u00a0the evening of\u00a0November 1, Novaya Gazeta Europe reported<\/a> that some Revolut users had managed to\u00a0regain access to\u00a0their accounts. In\u00a0other cases, Revolut has restored partial functionality for clients who were in\u00a0the process of\u00a0obtaining residence permits and provided relevant documentation. One woman told the outlet that her account remained blocked but that customer service advised her to\u00a0wait until November 9, when the technical issues were expected to\u00a0be\u00a0resolved.<\/p>\n Other media outlets also confirmed that Revolut had begun lifting some restrictions. The Bell reported<\/a> that one client in\u00a0Latvia, who had applied for a\u00a0residence permit, was allowed to\u00a0resume card payments \u2014 though cash withdrawals and transfers remained blocked. However, another Latvia-based customer said her request to\u00a0lift the restrictions was denied.<\/p>\n Raising the pressure Trump is\u00a0hitting Russia with sanctions that even Biden shied away from. Can its war-weary economy handle them?<\/a>Raising the pressure Trump is\u00a0hitting Russia with sanctions that even Biden shied away from. Can its war-weary economy handle them?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Revolut, an\u00a0online bank popular among expats in\u00a0the European Union, has started freezing accounts belonging to\u00a0Russian and Belarusian citizens.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":546766,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,1699,7888,7883,7886,7875,7868,7880,7870,7881,7887,7876,7864,7871,7865,7873,7874,7866,7869,7867,7885,7879,7872,7884,7882,7878,7877],"class_list":{"0":"post-546765","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european","11":"tag-european-union","12":"tag-7888","13":"tag-7883","14":"tag-7886","15":"tag-7875","16":"tag-7868","17":"tag-7880","18":"tag-7870","19":"tag-7881","20":"tag-7887","21":"tag-7876","22":"tag-7864","23":"tag-7871","24":"tag-7865","25":"tag-7873","26":"tag-7874","27":"tag-7866","28":"tag-7869","29":"tag-7867","30":"tag-7885","31":"tag-7879","32":"tag-7872","33":"tag-7884","34":"tag-7882","35":"tag-7878","36":"tag-7877"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115487224954992504","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}