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Foreign investors were the second-largest category of sellers of Russian equities in June, RBC reported, citing Bank of Russia statistics. 

The biggest sellers were asset managers, which offloaded almost 23 billion rubles of shares over the month — the largest volume since August 2023. 

Non-residents sold 12.1 billion rubles ($165 million at June's average exchange rate) of Russian equities, nearly tripling their sales compared with May. The central bank last recorded a comparable foreign outflow from equities in December 2025, at 12.9 billion rubles. 

Foreigners' sales of Russian shares peaked in September 2023 at 32 billion rubles for the month — the highest since April 2022, the earliest period for which the regulator discloses data. 

The Moex index of the Moscow Exchange lost 8.3 % in June, falling back to its 2023 lows. The slide has continued in July, with the benchmark dropping below 2,200 points for the first time in several years. 

The Bank of Russia said non-residents' sales were carried out off the exchange order book and "did not have a significant impact on the market" in June. However, cases have previously come to light of Russian market participants circumventing counter-sanctions rules, which among other things impose strict limits on any transactions involving assets belonging to non-residents from 'unfriendly' countries. 

"The volume of [illegal] transactions that took place could not have affected the market, because we monitor this very closely and attentively, and we have zero tolerance for such practices," Philipp Gabunia, deputy governor of the central bank, told RBC in an interview. He attributed the market's decline to the difficult geopolitical situation, negative expectations for fiscal policy and economic growth, and the regulator's decision on the key interest rate, which was cut by only 25 basis points, from 14.5 to 14.25 %, when the market had expected easing of at least 50bp. 

The rise in selling by non-residents may be linked to the lack of progress towards a peace settlement in Ukraine, falling oil prices amid the ceasefire in the Middle East, and a reassessment of expectations for the central bank's monetary policy, suggested Timur Khayrullin, director for high-net-worth clients at BCS Mir Investitsy.  

Alongside asset managers and non-residents, systemically important banks were also sellers of Russian equities in June, disposing of 7.2 billion rubles over the month — one and a half times more than in May, though short of April's 12.5 billion rubles.

Total net sales of Russian equities by the three categories of investors exceeded 42 billion for the month. By comparison, in May four categories of holders were exiting equities — foreigners, non-bank financial companies, asset managers and systemically important banks — with a combined net outflow of 23.6 billion.