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15/08/24
122
Russian Silence Over Linking Ruble Drop to Ukraine’s Attack
There seems to be a new rule in Russia: never mention the war in relation to the ruble.
Russian analysts in state-controlled banks and media have generally remained quiet on a likely link between Ukraine’s unexpected attack on the Kursk region and the 9% decline of the ruble versus the U.S. dollar.
The ruble’s decline started on the first day of the attack, August 6, the largest by a foreign power on Russian sovereign territory since WWII.
Currency traders who provided information to Reuters on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue said that the main sellers of the ruble were foreign banks.
In the August 13 session, the Russian currency dropped to a 10-month low versus the dollar and the lowest level versus the yuan since Jun. 24. State banks mostly ascribed the decline to economic factors.
State-owned Sberbank analysts, by far the biggest bank in Russia, blamed reduced currency sales by exporters and U.S. sanctions against Moscow’s Stock Exchange, implemented on June 12.
Sberbank said in a note exporters might in recent days have reduced the volumes of currency sales. This was due to the requirements for mandatory currency sales becoming more lenient, and the dividend and tax periods have ended.
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