To many Russians the withering ruble brings back bad memories of the 1998 financial crises when, in less than six months, the national currency wilted from a rate of six to the U.S. dollar to a rate of 21. On Wednesday, it fell to another record low exchange rate of 54.8 to the dollar. Altogether, the ruble has lost more than 40 percent of its value this year, pushed down by plunging prices for oil, which is Russia’s biggest export, and stiff international sanctions imposed to punish Moscow for carving off chunks of Ukraine.
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