Corporate funds held in Russian banks dropped by 473 billion roubles ($5.25 billion) in June, the central bank said on Tuesday, blaming the outflows on $3.6 billion in foreign currency withdrawals.

Russians bought around $78 million worth of foreign currency on the day that Wagner mercenaries sparked a brief period of panic as they advanced towards Moscow in an abortive armed mutiny in late June, the central bank has said.

In a banking sector report on Tuesday, the central bank said June corporate outflows from banks was largely down to tax payments and decreased oil and gas revenues. It did not mention the mutiny.

Russian banks' profits rose by 15% month-on-month in June to 314 billion roubles, the bank said, with profits for the first half of the year reaching 1.7 trillion roubles, on course to recover well from the impact of sweeping Western sanctions on Russia's financial sector over its actions in Ukraine.

Russian banks have rallied after a collective 90% drop in profit last year, with lenders now jostling for business from the state, particularly a burgeoning defence budget, and big corporate accounts.

Banks bought 135 billion roubles of the government's OFZ treasury bonds in June, around 45% of those that were issued, the central bank said.

($1 = 90.1330 roubles) (Reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya in Moscow and Alexander Marrow in London; Editing by Jan Harvey)