The dollar rose above 79 rubles - a record since November 2020

According to Izvestiya, referring to the interviewed financiers, the rise in the price of the currency is associated with geopolitical tensions and information stuffing about the situation around Ukraine.

Novaya Gazeta notes that the Moscow Exchange index also fell (-4.7%). Prior to that, on January 21, it was reported that the dollar exchange rate had reached its highest since the beginning of 2022 (77.5 rubles), and on January 18, the Moscow Exchange index showed a record drop since the beginning of the pandemic, falling by more than 5.5%.

It also speaks of a decrease in the value of shares of large Russian companies. So the securities of "Sberbank" fell by 4.8%, "Gazprom" - by 5.6%.

On January 18, The New York Times announced the evacuation of Russian diplomats from Ukraine. Today it was reported that the US State Department approved the evacuation of embassy staff in Ukraine, urging Americans to immediately leave Ukraine and Russia. Britain later also began evacuating ambassadors. Representatives of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called these decisions hasty.