Last month, the central bank also lowered its forecast for Russia’s economic growth next year to 0.5 to 1.5 percent, compared with 3.5 to 4 percent this year. The slowdown comes even as the government continues to pump record amounts of money into the economy to finance the war.

President Vladimir Putin said there isn’t any reason for Russians to panic after the currency fell to its lowest level since the days following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The rouble has dramatically lost value, and Russians are worried about food prices and are now openly criticising Putin's officials. "We would like to see Russia descending into the abyss of an economic crisis,