Rosbank: "This crisis appears very different from where I am sitting"

Russia’s stock markets and currency have suffered after the threat of sanctions – or worse – spooked international investors. But for local market participants, trading goes on, says Boris Bruck, head of sales and trading at Rosbank. By Joe Rennison

Boris Bruck

The death of protestors in Kiev, the flight of Ukraine’s president, Russian troops spreading across Crimea – and now the threat of broad, international sanctions. The rapidly evolving crisis between the two neighbours has dented the value of Russian stocks, caused credit default swap spreads to blow out, and also prompted the Russian central bank to raise interest rates in early March to support the ruble. Few would deny the gravity of the politics, but the economics are seen differently in