Rats Devour Russian Woman’s Stash of Cash

MOSCOW — An elderly villager lost nearly all her savings when rats ate the cash she had hoarded in the basement of her house.

The woman, living alone in a village 80 miles east of Moscow, earns her living by making moonshine, the daily Komsomolskaya Pravda reported Wednesday, and had saved a million rubles, equivalent to $300.

“Having studied a variety of Russian state and commercial banks, the lady concluded that the safest place was her cellar,” the paper said. It did not identify her further.

Many Russians prefer to keep their savings at home, since Russian banks offer interest rates lower than the high inflation rate and deposits are not considered safe.