WASHINGTON, January 26. /TASS/. Russia is already facing economic difficulties due to the situation around Ukraine, US Department of State Spokesperson Ned Price told a briefing on Tuesday.
"Even in the current phase, even in recent weeks we have seen financial markets pricing a greater risk premium into Russian financial assets amid the increase of troops. It is not just us that is warning of this swift, severe and united response. Financial markets, private sector actors are taking note. The Russian ruble recently hit its weakest level in over a year versus the dollar, <...> Russia’s stock market has sunk to its lowest levels in a year," he said.
That said, the market participants know that "what we are seeing now is nothing compared to what would be for the Russian Federation and the Russian economy if Russia’s invasion [in Ukraine] were to go forward," Price noted.
Concerns over Moscow's alleged preparations for an invasion into Ukraine have been increasingly announced in the west and in Kiev recently. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov castigated these statements as an empty and groundless escalation of tension, emphasizing that Russia posed no threat to anyone. At the same time, the Kremlin press secretary did not exclude some possible provocations to justify such claims and warned that the attempts to resolve the Ukrainian conflict by force would carry extremely serious consequences.