Russia’s rouble has wiped out nearly all of the losses incurred after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as Moscow applies draconian capital controls and blocks most foreign traders from exiting their investments.
The currency’s rebound shows how Moscow has managed to fend off a collapse of the country’s financial system, but at the cost of further isolating Russia from global finance and adding fuel to a powerful economic pullback.
In early March the rouble plunged to a 150 to the US dollar — losing almost half its value in less than a fortnight — after US and European sanctions cut Russia out of global payment systems and froze a large part of the more than $600bn war chest amassed by the country’s central bank. “As a result of our unprecedented sanctions, the rouble was almost immediately reduced to rubble,” president Joe Biden said during his visit to Poland last week.