Russian Embassy is running out of cash, Russian diplomats slams India on Demonetisation

One of India’s oldest strategic allies, Russia, has strongly protested the on-going cash crunch from the country’s demonetisation drive, saying that strict withdrawal limits aren’t enough to run a large embassy such as Russia’s.
The cash withdrawal limit available to the Russian Embassy, which employs a staff of 200, is about Rs 50,000 per week, leaving only Rs 250 cash in hand for each employee of the embassy for an entire week, according to the report.

According to the Economic Times, Russian ambassador to India Alexander Kadakin penned a strongly-worded letter to the ministry of external affairs (MEA) saying, “Please just imagine if we in Moscow mirror this order of SBI (State Bank of India) when 50,000 roubles will not be enough to pay for a decent dinner in a restaurant, not to mention functioning of such a big embassy as ours in New Delhi or India’s in Moscow.”

It is not only Russia who is protesting against demonetisation there are so many countries like Ukrain, Kazakhistan, Ethiopia and Sudan have also sent missives to India protesting the limits, according to the ET report.