Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – The Ministry of Economic Development in Russia announced that the percentage of individuals who declared bankruptcy and requested to liquidate their assets to pay off their debts increased by 37.8% during the first half of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.

© Provided by CNN ArabicRussia .. The increase in the percentage of bankrupt individuals by nearly 40%

The report of the Russian Ministry showed that 121,313 Russian citizens declared bankruptcy and liquidated their assets in order to pay off their accumulated debts. The largest number of them were from the "Moscow Oblast" region and the capital, Moscow, registering 6,058 individual bankruptcy cases and 5,664 cases, respectively.

In the same time frame, 20,185 Russian citizens declared bankruptcy and entered into a debt restructuring process, according to the report.

The number of bankrupt individuals in Russia has increased continuously, and their percentage has tripled from 68,980 in 2019 to 192,833 in 2021, according to the ministry's report.

"Absolutely, the number of bankrupt citizens has already reached very high levels," said a ministry official, Alexei Yukhnin.

While it is difficult to determine the link between the sharp rise in the number of bankrupt citizens and the invasion of Ukraine last February, Russia has since seen a number of major international economic blocs stop working in the country due to economic sanctions imposed on Moscow, which included measures to freeze assets.