15-month low ‘touched’ the ruble, Russian stock markets are falling

LAST UPDATE: 09.21

The Russian ruble fell to a 15-month low on Tuesday before narrowing losses after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops to be deployed in two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine after recognizing them as independent yesterday.

According to Reuters, the ruble suffered the biggest daily drop since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic on Monday, marking a “dip” due to Western fears that Putin’s move to recognize the two regions as independent and send forces to ” keep the peace “can foretell a great war.

A little while ago, the ruble rose 0.2% against the dollar to 79.64, recovering slightly after falling to 80.5825 earlier, to the weakest level since November 2, 2020.

Against the euro, it gains 0.2% and moves to 90.00, after earlier it had reached 90.95, the weakest level since April 2021.

Russia has repeatedly denied Western claims that it may be planning to invade Ukraine, but its stock markets have come under fire over fears of a military conflict that would almost certainly trigger new sweeping Western sanctions against Moscow.

The United States has said it will suspend US business in the breakaway regions and ban the importation of all goods from those areas, but said the measures are separate from the sanctions prepared by Washington and its allies in the event that Russia launches full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Coordinated sanctions will be announced later in the day. Possible measures could target large financial institutions, block Russia’s access to global electronics supplies or measures aimed at restricting Russian energy companies.

Meanwhile, Russian stock markets are losing big. Particularly, the MOEX index loses 5.87% and the RTSI index slips 7.50%.