Russian financial crisis (2014–2016)

[3][7] The crisis affected the Russian economy, both consumers and companies, and regional financial markets, as well as Putin's ambitions regarding the Eurasian Economic Union.

During the financial crisis, the economy turned to prevalent state ownership, with 60% of productive assets in the hands of the government.

[21] Russia's economy suffers from Dutch disease, a term economists use to describe a situation in which a country focuses on developing its natural resources to the detriment of other economic activity.

Russia is not alone in feeling the ill effects of falling oil prices, as several other countries, including Venezuela, Nigeria, and Kazakhstan, also faced reduced revenues and economic activity.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been accused by critics of running a kleptocracy, in which a small number of rent-seeking plutocrats drain the economy.

[34] Russia's already-weak economy left it less able to withstand the challenges imposed by low oil prices and international sanctions.

[36] Since the Great Recession, yields on U.S. treasuries and other low-risk assets have decreased due primarily to the liquidity-trap and also unconventional stimulative measures by central banks, such as ZIRP and quantitative easing.

[37][38][39][40][15] The recent decline in the rouble has increased the costs for Russian companies to make interest payments on debt issued in U.S. dollar or other foreign currencies that have strengthened against the rouble; thus it costs Russian companies more of their rouble-denominated revenue to repay their debt holders in dollars or other foreign currencies.

[45][46] Just before 1 a.m. local time on 16 December 2014, the Central Bank increased its key interest rate from 10.5% to 17% in an attempt to slow or stop the decline of the rouble.

[65][66] Some foreign companies halted their business activities in Russia, including Volvo car dealerships and the online stores of Apple and Steam, due to the high volatility and decline of the Russian rouble.

[60] Many Western financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs, started cutting the flow of cash to Russian companies since they had restricted some longer-term rouble-denominated repurchase agreements (repos).

[69] The 20 December print edition of The Economist predicted that Russia would face the "lethal combination" of a major recession and high inflation in 2015.

Prices of goods, including beef and fish, rose 40 to 50% within a few months before the end of the year due to Russia's ban on Western imports.

[74] The crisis threatened the continued existence of the Kontinental Hockey League, and several teams missed or delayed payments to their players.

[78] The state-owned gas company, Gazprom, lost 86% in the 2014 net income, dropping to 159,000,000,000 ₽ (US$3.1 billion), because of rouble devaluation, plunge on oil prices, Ukraine crisis, and rising impairment costs.

[79][80] According to a September 2015 survey conducted by Nielsen Russia, 49% of around 1,000 sampled people had not visited a bar in 2015 mainly due to economic crisis; 46%, not a pub; 62%, not a nightclub.

[81] By the end of 2015 direct foreign investments in Russian economy fell by 92% and more than 200 start-ups ceased to exist by closing down.

[82] Calculations presented by a group of demographers from the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration suggested the crisis could have very serious demographic consequences (simultaneous growth of mortality and decline of fertility)[83] As of March 2015, officially, three million Russians more than the previous year lived with less than 9,662₽ (US$169) monthly income, totalling to twenty-three million.

[84] In 2016 over 330,000 Russian citizens applied for US permanent residency through the Green Card lottery program, a 24% increase over the previous year.

[88] Since 1998, Russia and many other countries have adopted a floating exchange rate, which could also help to prevent Russian financial woes from affecting the rest of the world.

The PIMCO Emerging Markets Bond Fund also had 21% of its holdings in Russian corporate and sovereign debt as of the end of September 2014, which declined about 7.9% from about 16 November 2014 to 16 December 2014.

American fast food company McDonald's closed twelve stores, which Russian officials said was due to "sanitary violations".

French food conglomerate Danone experienced a loss of operating margins in the first half of 2014 due to rising milk prices.

[91] The devaluation of the Russian rouble affected the currencies of many post-Soviet states,[92] which are tied through trade and remittances by migrant workers in Russia.