BISHKEK, October 13. /TASS/. Russia requires a slightly lower ruble exchange rate than it currently has for its budget, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a press conference, summing up the results of his visit to Kyrgyzstan.

"For the budget, we need the exchange rate a little lower," he said.

According to him, "if everything was normal," then there would not have been a decree on the mandatory sale of foreign currency earnings by some exporters.

Russian president Vladimir Putin earlier on Wednesday signed a decree requiring certain Russian exporters to sell foreign currency. "According to the decree, a list of such exporters is being approved. They will be required, starting from the date set by the Russian government, to credit foreign currency earnings to their accounts in authorized banks and carry out mandatory sales of this foreign currency on the domestic market," presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"The percentage of currency subject to mandatory sale will be established by the Russian government," the Kremlin spokesman said. He continued by saying that the Financial Service for Financial Monitoring (Rosfinmonitoring) will oversee the required currency sale.