Ukraine war: sanctions-hit Russian rouble crashes as Zelenskiy speaks of ‘crucial’ 24 hours
The Russian rouble has crashed more than 40% after trading began on Monday in the wake of unprecedented international sanctions against the country’s financial system over Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The news came as Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the British prime minister that the next 24 hours would be “crucial” for his country and amid reports that a column of Russian tanks was heading for the capital.
With restrictions in force limiting how much the Russian central bank can do to prop up the currency, the rouble plunged 41.5% to a record low when the markets opened, sinking to as low as 119 per dollar from 83.7 at its close on Friday. It recovered a little ground later on Monday to stand at 107 to the dollar, a fall of 28%.
Analysts at Rabobank in Singapore said that Monday could see a “complete collapse in the rouble” after the asset freeze on the Central Bank of Russia means it cannot sell foreign currency reserves to support the rouble.
The economic turmoil unfolded amid fresh signs of nuclear brinkmanship by Vladimir Putin and his allies. Early on Monday, Belarus claimed that a referendum on Sunday had seen enough public support for constitutional changes that would revoke the country’s neutrality and its nuclear-free status. The changes would allow Russia to station nuclear weapons on Belarusian soil.
Putin earlier ordered his military to put its nuclear deterrence forces on high alert, a move criticised by the US as a “totally unacceptable” escalation, and as “dangerous rhetoric” by Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg.
Zelenskiy told British prime minister Boris Johnson on Sunday evening that the next 24 hours would a “crucial period” for his country. Johnson “said he would do all he
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