Putin says the Russian stock market is just ‘slightly in the red.’ (It’s in its longest losing streak since 2008.)
The Russian stock market is “slightly in the red” but will gradually recover, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum. Over the past six months, however, the Moscow Exchange index (IMOEX) has lost more than 22%.
What did Putin say?
“Yes, we understand that right now it [the stock market] is slightly in the red. But I’m confident everything will gradually recover, with macroeconomic indicators holding steady and strengthening,” Putin said. He said the Russian economy is in an “absolutely stable situation” and that the recent drop in investment is due in part to the anti-inflation policies of Russia’s Central Bank and the government.
What’s happening in the market?
The Moscow Exchange index has now fallen for six months in a row — its longest losing streak since the 2008 global financial crisis. The current decline is far smaller in scale, however: over six months in 2008, the IMOEX lost 68.25%. Analysts say Russia’s high benchmark interest rate and geopolitical uncertainty are weighing on the market, since high yields on deposits and bonds make riskier stocks less attractive to investors.
The debt market has been rocky, too. After Russia’s Central Bank meeting on June 19, investors began selling off government bonds because the pace of rate cuts fell short of market expectations. The RGBI government bond index hit a one-year low in early July, and Russia’s Finance Ministry canceled several auctions of federal loan bonds (OFZs) because of volatility. In July, Russians withdrew 90 billion rubles from bond funds — the most since record-keeping began — even as inflows over the same period exceeded 100 billion rubles.
The Finance Ministry’s pause in primary OFZ issuance, meanwhile, benefited corporate borrowers. Companies issued 875 billion rubles in bonds in August, 37% more than in July and 32% more than a year earlier — an all-time record.
What about individual stocks?
The calculations use closing prices for shares of VTB (VTBR), Gazprom (GAZP), and Yandex (YDEX) on the Moscow Exchange on March 6 and September 2, 2026. We calculated how the value of 100,000 rubles invested in each company’s shares would have changed in proportion to that company’s share price over the period. Inflation and dividends are not factored in. Over the period covered, Yandex and VTBpaid dividends on their 2025 results, while Gazprom’s shareholders approved a decision to forgo payouts.
Take the shares of three Russian companies: Gazprom, VTB, and Yandex. Over six months, 100,000 rubles notionally invested in VTB shares would have shrunk to 60,300 rubles, a drop of 39.7%. The same sum in Yandex would have fallen to 79,100 rubles, down 20.9%, and in Gazprom to 66,500 rubles, down 33.5%.
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