The Russian ruble is one of the most heavily manipulated currencies in the world. If the Russians can't stop this freefall themselves their currency will soon be worthless.
Source: Associated Press
The Russian ruble, which has been steadily losing exchange value in a long fall since the beginning of the year, hit 99 to the dollar in Friday trading, its lowest level since the early weeks of the Ukraine war.
In January, the ruble traded at about 66 to the dollar but lost about a third of its value in subsequent months amid continuing concern about the Russian economy.
After Western countries imposed wide sanctions in the wake of the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the ruble plunged to as low as 130 against the dollar, but the Russian Central Bank enacted capital controls that stabilized its value. By last summer, it was in the 50-60 range to the dollar.
International sanctions cut off a significant part of imports to Russia, which Central Bank deputy director Alexei Zabotkin said has contributed to the ruble's fall.
Putin's main propagandist Vladimir Solovyov droned on about it for over twenty minutes the other day, getting hysterical at times.
"The bloody Central Bank, which has alarmed the whole country and isn't even explaining why the hell the ruble exchange rate has jumped so high that they're laughing at us abroad, at our ruble being one of the three weakest currencies," said Solovyov, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Thanks to the 'genius' policy of the Central Bank which despises the people so much that it won't even say a single word to them about what it's doing!" He added.
A parody account captured the Russian approach to dealing with a crisis.
Not everyone is a fan of Putin in Russia.
