The ruble slipped again as President Vladimir Putin told reporters during his annual press conference on Thursday that the currency's falls were 'not a crisis'.
At the time of writing the ruble was down 3% against the dollar as Putin attempted to reassure people over the prospects for the Russian economy, which is widely expected to fall into a recession next year due predominantly to collapsing oil prices and western economic sanctions over the country's role in the ongoing Ukraine crisis.
He told reporters:
"I would not call the situation a crisis, you may call it whatever you want."