From our newsroom:
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev says the central bank has all the tools it needs to secure the stability of the ruble, which has fallen to its lowest rate against the dollar since mid-December.
Russia's national currency was trading at around 66 to the U.S. dollar and about 77.5 to the euro on January 14.
Medvedev said at the Yegor Gaidar Forum in Moscow on January 14 that the central bank will not "eat up" the country's foreign currency reserves.
The central bank spent some $76 billion to prop up the ruble last year, sending its reserves to less than $400 billion for the first time since 2010.
Falling global oil prices and Western financial sanctions against Russian individuals and entities over the Kremlin's interference in Ukraine have hit the ruble, which has lost about half its value against the dollar in the past year. (Reuters, AFP, Bloomberg, and Interfax)
Bizarre marriage under the "Donetsk People's Republic" flag.
Reuters has shared video of the aftermath at the scene where Ukrainian authorities say 10 civilians were killed and 13 more wounded by a shell or missile that hit a bus in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday. The incident occurred at a Ukrainian military checkpoint near the town of Volnovakha, southwest of the separatist-held provincial capital of Donetsk. (WARNING: graphic images of dead civilians)
The Interpreter says the"alternative" theories from the "pro-Kremlin troll brigade" blaming pro-Kyiv forces for the bus attack on Tuesday have been debunked.
The Ukrainian parliament began its session today with a moment of silence for the 12 people killed by what the Euromaidan PR Facebook describes as "killed by Russian terrorists near #Volnovaha yesterday."
Each side blames the other for the apparent rocket attack that slammed into a passenger bus on Tuesday.