Russia Update: Ruble Rate to Dollar Plunges at News of Turkish Downing of Russian UAV

Downed Russian drone. Photo by Haberturk-TV

The news that the Turkish military has reportedly destroyed a Russian drone that intruded in its airspace has caused the ruble value to drop sharply again.

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Ruble Rate to Dollar Plunges at News of Turkish Downing of Russian UAV

2015-10-16 14:08:46

The news that the Turkish military has reportedly destroyed a Russian drone that intruded in its airspace has caused the ruble value to drop sharply again, RBC.ru reports.

The unmanned aircraft appeared similar to a Russian drone down by the Ukrainian military last year; see our Putin in Syria blog.

The ruble had been rallying in recent weeks since President Vladimir Putin launched airstrikes in Syria on September 30 amid patriotic propaganda and the display of Russia’s military might.

But today the ruble lost value by 50 kopecks within a few minutes to 62.128 to the US dollar, which was 72.5 kopecks higher than the close of the ruble yesterday, says RBC.ru. The euro reached 70.53 rubles, which was 71 kopecks higher than yesterday’s closing rate.

Aleksandr Mulberger, head of trading in the foreign currency market for the BKS Financial Group said (translation by The Interpreter):

“Market players began to close their short positions on the ruble approximately at the same time as the news about this [UAV downing] became known. This is a short-term emotional reaction.” He said further trading dynamics would depend on the price of oil.

Currently, according to Zenrus.ru, the ruble is back up to 61.53 and euro up to 69.92.

This is the third time Turkey has accused Russia of violating its airspace; earlier on October 3 and 4, a Russian Su-30 flew into Turkey supposedly due to bad weather, the Defense Ministry said.

— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick

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