The Russian ruble dived around 29% against the dollar on Monday morning, as markets assessed the impact of sanctions on Russia amid a growing backlash against the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The ruble was trading as low as 119 per dollar as offshore trading started in the morning during Asia hours, from nearly 84 per dollar the previous day, according to Factset data.
It came as the Russia-Ukraine crisis shows no sign of abating.
On Sunday, after days of air, sea and land assault on Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin put his country’s nuclear deterrence forces on high alert.
Russia’s advance into Ukraine continues but Ukraine retains control of its capital Kyiv and its second-biggest city, Kharkiv. Russian military vehicles entered Kharkiv on Sunday with reports of fighting taking place and residents being warned to stay in shelters.
Last week, President Joe Biden responded to the attack by announcing several rounds of sanctions on Russian banks, on the country’s sovereign debt and Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Over the weekend, the U.S., European allies and Canada agreed to cut off key Russian banks from the interbank messaging system, SWIFT, which connects more than 11,000 banks and financial institutions in over 200 countries and territories.
