Moscow: Russia stepped up its defence of the rouble on Wednesday as it sought to halt a run on the currency and stem the worst financial crisis of President Vladimir Putin’s 15 years in power.The intervention comes as Washington prepared to pile further sanctions on Russia over its support for the separatist insurgency in Ukraine, which have combined with falling oil prices to produce the perfect storm for the currency to go into freefall.
The rouble, which lost a fifth of its value in a single day on Tuesday, forcing people flock to stores frantically buying a range of big-ticket items to pre-empt the price rises. The Russian current has lost 60 per cent of its value since the beginning of the year.
According to data from Bloomberg, Western sanctions, low oil prices and the falling rouble have wiped billions off more than $50 billion wealth of Russia’s 15 richest men, who are considered to be close to President Vladmir Putin.
Shops selling a broad range of items were repo-rting record sales — some have suspended operations, unsure of how far down the rouble will sink. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, meanwhile, sought reassure people that Moscow can contain the crisis and the finance ministry said it was selling $7 billion to prop up the rouble.
