Top Russian bank executive publishes ‘letter to Santa’ asking for stabilized ruble and help with inflation

Dmitry Pyanov, first deputy chairman of Russian bank VTB, published an op-ed in the newspaper RBC on Tuesday styled as a letter to Father Frost (the Russian equivalent of Santa Claus) and Snegurochka, his traditional "snow maiden" companion. In the article, Pyanov asks to the mythical figures to help stabilize the ruble’s exchange rate and explain how Russia can achieve its inflation targets.

The column outlines five economic “wishes” for the coming year. One of them, titled “Explain more clearly how we will move towards the four-percent inflation target and to what extent the Central Bank takes recession risks into account,” lays out concerns about Russia’s monetary policy.

Pyanov notes that while the Central Bank had forecast price growth of 4–4.5 percent, inflation ended up closer to 8.5–9 percent. “What if the projected 4.5–5 percent inflation for 2025 doesn’t come true either? […] What if quickly reducing inflation requires such an economic cooldown that grown-ups lose their jobs?” he writes.

Another one of Pyanov’s “wishes” is for the Central Bank to take a more proactive stance in managing the foreign exchange market during periods of heightened volatility. He describes a moment of collective shock at VTB: “[We] looked at the dollar exchange rate at the currency office and were stunned — just a couple of months ago, it was at 90 [rubles]!”

The other wishes concern adjustments to Russia’s fiscal rule, support for a high-speed railway project, and additional resources for the Central Bank’s banking regulation department. The letter is signed, “Dima Pyanov from the blue group at the banking kindergarten.