Russian Ruble
a.k.a. RUB, Rouble
Russia's currency, driven by oil and gas prices and, since 2022, by sanctions and capital controls.
The Russian ruble (RUB) is Russia's money. As a big energy exporter, Russia has a petrocurrency: when oil and gas are expensive, the ruble usually benefits. It crashed in 1998 when Russia defaulted, and again in 2014 as oil prices fell and sanctions arrived.
After the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Western sanctions froze much of Russia's reserves and cut many banks off from global payment systems. Russia answered with strict capital controls, and most Western brokers stopped offering the ruble. It is a vivid example of political risk overwhelming economics.
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