What the EU's 21st Sanctions Package Changed for Money Transfers

When the European Union's 21st sanctions package came into force in early August 2026, some of the most commonly used channels for moving money between Russia and other countries stopped working. The change hit Russians with relatives abroad hardest: a route they may have used for years — a straightforward SWIFT transfer or a card payment — suddenly became unavailable or significantly more expensive.

Yet the transfers themselves were never banned, according to Alexey Petrov, managing director of the payment service Vepay. Russian law still places no restrictions on receiving money from abroad, and a fragmented set of alternatives has survived. Direct correspondent links with Russian banks remain in place in the CIS countries, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and China. Major banks offer phone-number and card transfers to Armenia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Tajikistan. Unsanctioned lenders such as Raiffeisen and UniCredit still accept SWIFT payments, though with added fees and document checks. Among the large payment systems, Unistream and Avosend continue to operate, while Zolotaya Korona works on the routes that remain: Turkey, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

For households, the practical effect is that sending money abroad now means choosing between corridors with different costs, speeds and levels of scrutiny — and, in some cases, turning to services most users never needed before, such as licensed currency exchangers and stablecoin routes. Petrov warns that the cheapest-looking options carry the highest risks, and that the real cost of a transfer is only visible in the final amount received.

How Russia's Transfer Market Is Reorganising Around New Corridors

One System Becomes a Patchwork of Corridors

The pre-sanctions model — a single SWIFT pipe and a handful of payment systems serving every destination — has given way to a network of country-specific corridors. Transfers to CIS countries, the UAE, Turkey and China run on direct correspondent links; a separate set of phone-number and card integrations covers Armenia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Tajikistan; and SWIFT survives only through unsanctioned banks willing to absorb the compliance work. Each corridor has its own cost and reliability profile, which means the effective price of a family transfer now depends heavily on where the recipient lives.

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The Winners: Unsanctioned Banks and Licensed Exchangers

The friction created by sanctions is itself a business opportunity. Raiffeisen and UniCredit continue to earn fees on SWIFT traffic precisely because they remain outside the sanctions net. Licensed exchangers in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Belarus — the article names Hodler Exchange, Casheron and WhiteBird — occupy a similar position in the new middle layer: they take rubles via Russia's Faster Payments System and credit foreign currency to a recipient's overseas account. So long as sanctioned banks stay out of the picture, these intermediaries capture the volume and the margin.

Stablecoins: A Workaround With No Safety Net

The ruble-USDT-local currency chain is the most technically demanding alternative and the one with the least protection. Petrov's warning is specific: a mistake in a wallet address or in the choice of network is simply lost money, with no bank to reverse it. This is a workaround for the comfortable user, not a mainstream replacement — and its legal status under Russian law remains undefined, adding a second layer of uncertainty on top of the execution risk.

Compliance Has Moved Down to the Individual

Bank scrutiny is now part of the ordinary transfer. The article's advice — agree the route in advance, state the purpose as material help from a relative, and be ready to prove the relationship — reflects a reality where even small family transfers can trigger questions. The tax treatment helps: transfers between close relatives are not taxed as long as they are not payment for goods or services. But proving kinship, and routing money through legal-entity details rather than individuals' accounts, is now the sender's job, not the bank's.

Six Rules for Sending Money to Relatives Abroad

For Russian households sending money to relatives abroad, the practical choices in August 2026 are:

  • Use the shortest corridor first. Direct correspondent routes to CIS countries, the UAE, Turkey and China remain the most reliable; phone-number and card transfers work for Armenia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Tajikistan.
  • Treat SWIFT as a last-resort option. Raiffeisen and UniCredit still process transfers, but fees and documentation checks make them the costliest mainstream route.
  • If using an exchanger, check the licence. The article names Hodler Exchange, Casheron (Kyrgyzstan) and WhiteBird (Belarus) as licensed options; pay via a legal entity's details or an SBP QR code and never to an individual's account.
  • Leave stablecoins to the technically confident. The ruble-USDT-local currency route bypasses closed corridors, but a wrong address or network means the money is gone permanently.
  • Mark the transfer's purpose and expect to prove it. Material help from a relative is the standard description, and kinship may need to be documented; transfers between close relatives are not taxed when they are not payment for goods or services.
  • Compare the final amount, not the headline fee. Test any new channel with a small sum first, and avoid large transfers to private individuals at good rates offered in messengers — the article's expert flags these as the likeliest scams.