Russians queue at ATMs amid financial sanctions

STORY: Moscow residents stood in long queues for ATMs on Tuesday (March 1) as Western sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine hit residents on the street.

As France declared an "all-out economic and financial war" against the country on Tuesday (March 1) to bring down its economy - before French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire rowed back on language he later said was inappropriate.

People rushed to withdraw cash after the Russian ruble hit record lows, losing a third of its value so far this year.

Muscovites interviewed by Reuters said they had tried to get money from different ATMs but weren't successful.

Some expressed concerns that the Russian government would freeze their currency savings.

Olga is a Moscow resident who was queueing to withdraw money:

"I am scared that the government will expropriate all the money, or the bank cards will get frozen. I don't know. I have been checking different places, waiting in queues and looking for money the second day in a row. I haven't managed to withdraw euros yet. So I am concerned. I need to get the cash somehow".

Bruno Le Maire on Tuesday described the sanctions packages as proving "extremely effective", adding that "We are not in a battle against the Russian people."

In response, Russia’s former President and Prime Minister, now deputy Chair of the Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev tweeted: "Watch your tongue, gentlemen! And don’t forget that in human history, economic wars quite often turned into real ones".

The sanctions range from curbing the Central Bank's ability to use its gold and foreign exchange reserves to excluding big Russian banks from international financial markets.

Clients of sanctioned banks are not able to use ApplePay and GooglePay services.

And Moscow metro notified passengers of potential issues with contactless payments for rides and asked them to use bank cards instead.