Russia’s currency tumbled more than 28 per cent to a record low in early trading on Monday, as a new round of western sanctions heaped pressure on the country’s financial system in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
The rouble dropped to almost 118 against the US dollar, according to Bloomberg data, following a weekend when Russian president Vladimir Putin put his nuclear forces on high alert and the US and Europe unleashed its toughest sanctions to cut the country off from the global financial system.
In an early sign of how Moscow is being pushed further to the fringes of world markets, Norway said on Sunday that its $1.3tn oil fund, the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund, would freeze its investments in Russian assets and begin divesting from the country. BP, the UK energy group, also said it would divest the 20 per cent stake in Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft it has held since 2013.