MOSCOW, February 16 (Reuters) – The Russian ruble fell on Friday after the announcement of the death of political opponent Alexeï Navalny, transferred in December to a penitentiary service in the Yamal-Nenets region, in the Russian Arctic region, for serve a prison sentence there.
The Russian currency is also weakened by the central bank’s decision to maintain its main key rate at 16%.
The ruble fell to 93 against the dollar following the announcement of the death of Alexei Navalny, before recovering somewhat to 92.71, around 12:35 GMT, while remaining at its lowest level since January 4.
Against the euro, the ruble trades at 99.58.
Read also…
Russian stock indices are also down, with the dollar-denominated RTS index dropping 0.88% to 1,103.85 points, and the Russian ruble-based MOEX index falling 0.49% to 3,249. 48 points.
In a statement published on its website, the prison administration wrote that Alexeï Navalny, who was 47 years old, “felt bad” after a walk on Friday and “almost immediately lost consciousness”.
The doctors’ intervention did not save him, she adds. (Reporting Alexander Marrow, French version Claude Chendjou, editing by Zhifan Liu)
©2024 Thomson Reuters, all rights reserved. Reuters content is the intellectual property of Thomson Reuters or its third party content providers. Any copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. “Reuters” and the Reuters Logo are trademarks of Thomson Reuters and its affiliated companies.