The ruble briefly traded at around 87 per US dollar before paring back some of its losses, last trading at around 84.40 against the greenback. The insurrection triggered volatility across markets: Oil prices rose. Brent crude, the international benchmark, gained 0.8% to roughly $74 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark, rose by 0.4% to around $69 a barrel.
The ruble stayed surprisingly resilient for most of last year, buoyed by the Russian central bank’s aggressive interest rate hikes and capital controls. Russia has also moved to decrease its reliance on the US dollar, including switching payments to the ruble, particularly after it was hit with Western sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine. That has injected volatility into the ruble-dollar relationship. But the ruble has seesawed even before then.