three-day package tours to the neighboring country of Uzbekistan, where Russians can get a local Visa or Mastercard bank card. The company charges $220 per trip, but the price doesn’t include the plane tickets. It costs about $400 to fly from Moscow to Tashkent.Those who don’t want to travel 2,000 miles and pay $600 to open a bank account in a third country may start considering underground banking.
They find a person with bank accounts in Russia and Europe and put 1,000 euros in rubles to this person’s Russian account. The latter sends 1,000 euros from their European account to the beneficiary in Europe.transfers are, but anecdotally, they seem common. I spoke to one Russian who posted in a group on Telegram that she has bank accounts in Russia and the U.S. and could help. According to the user, who asked to stay anonymous, several people reached out to her.