Ruble crashes further as Wagner's Yevgeny Prigozhin is said to be back in Russia after mutiny

• The Russian ruble fell as much as 3% Thursday to tumble past 93 per dollar.
• This comes as Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin is said to be back in Russia.

The embattled ruble extended its tumble Thursday as the leader of last month's mutiny was said to be back in Russia despite an agreement to keep him out of the country.

The ruble fell as much as 3% to tumble past 93 per dollar, hitting the lowest level since March 2022 and extending its year-to-date losses to 25%.

While the June 24 mutiny ended in a deal that exiled Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin to Belarus, he has returned to Russia, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told reporters on Thursday.

He added that it was unclear whether Wagner fighters were to come to Belarus, another stipulation in the deal made after the uprising. This is a decision to be determined by Moscow, Lukashenko said.

Prigozhin could reignite doubts about the stability of Vladimir Putin's regime, which has been weighing on the ruble. Since Wagner staged its mutiny two weeks ago, the currency has lost 10% against the dollar.

Political uncertainty over political stability in Russia had already caused the ruble to breach the Kremlin's own "comfort zone" of around 80-90 per greenback on Wednesday.

While Russian capital controls have shielded the ruble somewhat from Western sanctions and the increasing costs of the Kremlin's war in Ukraine, the sudden mutiny by Wagner forces undid much of the market's calm.

When the mercenary forces marched toward Moscow that day, Russian demand for foreign currencies jumped 70%-80%.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina cited shifts in the country's balance of trade as the main reason behind the ruble's deterioration, as import demand grows.

Speaking at a St. Petersburg conference on Thursday, she indicated the government had no reason to step in, as the ruble's condition presented no risk to financial stability.

"We don't target the ruble exchange rate," she said. "For us, any exchange rate is acceptable, we take it into account in making a decision on monetary policy."