Russia tries to stem panic over the plummeting ruble, as the central bank is forced to intervene

Russian authorities are trying to stem panic over the ruble's sharp fall this week, with the central bank forced to intervene on Wednesday to support the currency.

The ruble weakened to 114 against the greenback on Wednesday, hitting its lowest level since March 2022, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Russia's central bank (CBR) was forced to intervene on the day to prop up the ruble, saying it would halt foreign purchases on the domestic currency market for the rest of the year "in order to reduce the volatility of financial markets."

Following the intervention, the ruble was trading at 110 against the dollar on Thursday morning.

Russian President Vladimir Putin commented on the situation earlier, saying there was no need to panic about the depreciation of the ruble and that the currency's fluctuations were affected by budget payments and seasonal shifts.

"In my opinion, the situation is under control, and there are absolutely no grounds for panic," Putin told reporters, news agency RIA Novosti reported.

"As for the fluctuations in the ruble exchange rate, this is connected not only with inflation processes, it is also connected with payments to the budget, it is connected with oil prices. There are many factors of a seasonal nature," he added, in comments translated by Google.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov was also dismissive about the decline, telling a reporter Wednesday that it wouldn't affect ordinary Russians because they receive their salaries in rubles, according to a Google-translated report from Russian media.

Close followers of Russian geopolitics and macroeconomics say the weakening ruble points to a fast-deteriorating economic situation for Moscow.

Describing the ruble as being "in free fall," Timothy Ash,