Russian stock market plummets to 3-year low after Kremlin statement on 'collapsing' US-Moscow relations
The Russian stock market plunged to a three-year low on Oct. 8 following remarks by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov about "collapsing" relations between Washington and Moscow.
The drop brings the MOEX Russia Index, the primary benchmark of the Russian stock market, to its lowest levels since September 2022.
"(Russia and the United States) have a certain edifice of relations that is cracking and collapsing," Ryabkov said on Oct. 8. "The Americans are to blame for this. Now the cracks have reached the foundation."
The comments shattered hopes for an end to Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, with Ryabkov claiming that the "strong momentum" for peace, built upon the August meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, had been "largely exhausted."
In the wake of Ryabkov's statement, the MOEX Russia Index dropped by 4.05%, a record low since September 2022.
Over the course of the day, shares in several major Russian companies recorded significant drops. As of 6:35 p.m. Moscow time, Gazprom shares had fallen 4.1%, Sberbank 4.9%, VTB 4.7%, and Rosneft 2.5%.
Shares in the steel giant Severstal dropped 4.9% while shares in Aeroflot, Russia's largest airline, fell by 5%. Rostelecom, Inter RAO, and Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works logged drops of over 5%. Shares in the mining company Mechel plummeted 6.7%.
The stock market plunge is the latest blow to the Russian economy, which has faced high inflation, slowed growth, and near-record interest rates as the war against Ukraine drags on. International sanctions continue to limit access to markets while Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries have exacerbated a gasoline crisis.
Two months after the Trump-Putin Alaska summit, Moscow has made no tangible progress toward peace.
Trump has recently hardened his tone on Russia, saying in September that Ukraine could win the war and reclaim all Russian-occupied territories lost since the invasion. Washington is also considering sending Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of up to 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) to Ukraine, which could allow strikes deep into Russian territory.
