Russia's ruble currency showed renewed signs of trouble during foreign exchange trading in Moscow on July 28, with the cost of one U.S. dollar rising over 60 rubles for the first time since March 20.
Russia's economy has been weakened by a decline in the global price of oil and Western sanctions imposed in response to the Kremlin’s support for separatists in eastern Ukraine and Russia's illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.
The value of the ruble also weakened on July 28 against the troubled euro currency, with one euro costing more than 66 rubles -- despite the dramatic fall of the euro against the U.S. dollar as a result of the Greek debt crisis.
Last year, Russia spent almost $90 billion of its reserves before abandoning its managed exchange-rate policy in November as falling oil prices exacerbated the ruble’s decline against the dollar.
Russia is now in the midst of a deep recession.