The Russian Ruble plunged to an all-time low against the US Dollar, battered and bruised by investors worried about the impact of round after round of Western sanctions aimed at punishing Moscow for its role in the Ukraine crisis.

Moscow is urging calm.  With Russia blocked from accessing capital in western markets, Deputy Russian Finance Minister Alexei Moiseyev said talks are under way with Russia’s central bank to find some measures to ease the crisis.  His boss Anton Siluanov says the government may use US$8 Billion from the state pension fund to help out companies hard-hit by the sanctions.  It remains to be seen how Russians in that fund will feel about their pensions being used to protect Vladimir Putin’s billionaire pals.

Inflation is running at about 7.7 percent.  Economist and former Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin says the sanctions threaten to push Russia’s economy into a long recession.

“The sanctions that have been imposed are going to have an effect for the next one or two years because they have limited opportunities for investment in this uncertain environment,” said Kudrin, who says foreign investors could pull US$110 Billion out of Russia’s economy this year, almost twice as much as last year’s $61 billion capital flight.