Transferring money home to support relatives and friends is a big problem for them. Opportunities for this are limited, there are practically no financial ties between Russia and Moldova.
But it is still possible to transfer money. Portal banks.ru published a full list of possibilities to transfer money from Russia to Moldova as of June 2025.
The most acceptable option is through the Hungarian OTP Bank, which has branches both in Russia and Moldova. Transfers are available through the online banking system, as well as in Russian branches of the bank. However, it is more expensive.
To send money, you need to be a client of OTP-Bank, to have a foreign currency account in euros, yuan or forints. It is also necessary to know the account details of the recipient of the transfer.
To receive money in Moldova, you need to have a card of Moldovan OTP Bank. Bank commissions are 1-2% for transfers in forints and yuan and 3-5% for euros.
You can also transfer money via SWIFT system through the Russian-Japanese bank SBI, but payments are made only in Japanese yen. That is, you need to make a triple currency conversion: rubles to yen, yen to dollars or euros, then to the local currency (if the recipient will convert the transfer to Moldovan lei on the spot).
You can transfer money from card to card and without using SWIFT through MTC-Bank’s “Payment” service. Transfers are available both to the bank’s clients and cardholders of other Russian financial organizations.
It is easier with unrecognized Transnistria – you can make a transfer there by phone number or card number through such major Russian banks as Sberbank, Gazprombank, and T-bank.
From money transfer systems it is possible to send money from Russia to Moldova only through “Unistream” service. Earlier, payments through Zolotaya Korona were available, but Moldovan banks refused to work with it because the developer company fell under Western sanctions.
“Unistream” makes transfers to Moldova by phone number to a bank account in a partner bank or in cash. Transfers are paid by three partner banks, all of which are located in Transnistria.
