Russia’s currency has continued to plunge, adding to the country’s economic turbulence and raising questions about the financial sustainability of Vladimir Putin‘s aggression in Ukraine.
Russia’s Central Bank (CBR) intervened on Wednesday to prop up the plummeting ruble, which weakened to 114 against the U.S. dollar, its lowest since March 2022 during the first weeks of Putin’s full-scale invasion.
The CBR said it would halt foreign purchases on the domestic currency market for the rest of the year “to reduce the volatility of financial markets.” The currency had rallied to 110 against the greenback by Thursday.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian finance ministry for comment.
The ruble’s collapse follows new U.S. sanctions against Russia’s Gazprombank which had previously been spared American punishment due to its role as a conduit for Russian gas payments. Losing this channel could cause a further decrease in revenues from gas, already the export hit hardest by sanctions.
“Russia is …