Russian banks have started to massively refuse the population loans.

Russian banks are increasingly refusing citizens consumer loans. Last month, lending organizations approved only 5% of applications, which is a significant decrease compared to 22% for the same period last year. This is reported by The Moscow Times.

5% is an unprecedented level of decline in approval rates at least in recent years, says the director of the credit direction of the financial marketplace 'Sravni' Magomed Gamzaev.

In January, the total volume of loans issued (including mortgages, cash loans, auto loans, and POS loans) amounted to 441 billion rubles, which is the lowest figure since April 2022.

According to the marketing director of the National Bureau of Credit Histories Alexey Volkov, the retail lending market has cooled due to the tough policy of the Central Bank.

The main reasons for this cooling are the increase in the key rate to 21% and the tightening of restrictions on issuing loans to risky borrowers.

More and more often, Russians are forced to resort to payday loans at 292% per annum due to increased banking regulation. In December of the previous year, 70% of new loans were granted by microfinance organizations (MFOs), whereas a year ago this figure was 47.4%.

It is known that over seven million eligible Russian men can voluntarily participate in the 'Internal Security Service' (SVO) by signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. According to a survey, 29.6% of Russians consider this possibility for themselves, excluding those who have already participated in the war. 13.2% are ready to participate in the war with Ukraine 'right now' without additional incentives, while 16.4% only if such incentives are available, for example, increased payments or support from relatives.

Residents of Moscow, who are almost unaffected by the bloody aggression of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin against Ukraine, largely support the continuation of the war and hostilities (58%). At the same time, about 60% of the provincial population desire peaceful negotiations.

Currently, Russia can finance the war against Ukraine for several years due to significant revenues from oil sales and unfavorable sanctions from the West.