Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked his cabinet ministers to not take holidays this New Year as Russia prepares for recession. Photograph: Alexei Druzhinin/Reuters

Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has scrapped New Year holidays for government ministers because of the unfolding economic crisis.Russian private sec(...)

The rouble fell to as low as 80 per dollar this month

The Russian rouble rose to a two-week high on Tuesday after the government and the central bank put pressure on large state-owned exporters to sell do(...)

 Vladimir Putin:  has utterly failed to diversify Russia’s economy during 15 years in power. Photograph: REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev

Russia’s year began with a spectacular display of sporting prowess, organisational ability and, above all, financial muscle. The Winter Olympics in So(...)

Street cleaners walking in front of a currency exchange office in Moscow yesterday. Photograph: EPA/Maxim Shipenkov
Russia moves to prop up the rouble

Russia has taken steps to support the banking system and stem a sharp fall in the value of the rouble that is threatening to plunge the country into (...)

Pedestrians pass a neon sign displaying the latest Russian ruble euro dollar exchange rate outside a currency exchange bureau in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday. The rouble sank to a record, deepening Russia’s currency crisis, as people scrambled to convert their money into dollars after a surprise interest-rate increase failed to shore up investor confidence. (Photograph: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg)

Russia has failed to halt the collapse of the rouble, leaving president Vladimir Putin facing a full-blown currency crisis that could weaken his iron (...)

A Ukrainian soldier on a military vehicle in Kramatorsk, near Slaviansk, Ukraine, yesterday. Photograph: EPA/Roman Pilipey

Members of Nato will supply arms to Kiev in its battle with separatist rebels, Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko has said, while claiming the co(...)

Cars produced by foreign automobile-makers at a dealership in Moscow. Russia may tighten sanctions against western nations to include a ban on imports of cars.

Russia may tighten retaliatory sanctions against western nations to include a ban on car imports if the US and the EU impose additional sanctions on M(...)

Service attendants use fuel pumps to fill automobiles on the forecourt of an OAO Rosneft gas station in Moscow.   Photo: Bloomberg

Igor Sechin, the head of Russian oil giant Rosneft, has asked the government to provide the company with 1.5 trillion roubles (€31.1 billion) to help(...)

Obama’s authorisation of air strikes against militants in Iraq is accelerating a retreat in European stocks that started weeks ago. Photograph: Joshua Card/EPA

The first back-to-back weekly losses in European stocks since March sent markets tumbling across the continent yesterday. US president Barack Obama’s(...)

European shares dropped today, sinking for the seventh time in eight sessions on mounting geopolitical jitters after US president Barack Obama authori(...)