TODAY: Ruble stabilises but analysts warn crisis will continue; speculation mounts as to government’s next move; no possibility of IMF bailout; Moscow finally starting to bend on Ukraine?  Rosneft on target to repay debt; Memorial hearing postponed; Sistema chief Vladimir Yevtushenkov freed from house arrest.  

Following the lows of ‘Black Tuesday’ the ruble has stabilised somewhat, finding itself was around 9% firmer against the dollar in volatile trading.  The slight recovery has been attributed to the Finance Ministry’s decision to sell foreign currency and an agreement between the government, Central Bank officials and Russian firms to make sure their foreign currency assets were back at the October levels by March 1.  News of the stabilisation will provide a welcome backdrop to President Putin’s hotly-anticipated end-of-year news conference, due to take place today.  But are the economic woes actually abating?  ‘This crisis is just developing,’ says the Guardian’s Nils Pratley.  The salient difference between Russia’s crisis and other countries’ is, according to one commentator, that in other instances ‘market participants would be counting down the days until the IMF was called in. The twist here is that it is almost impossible to imagine Vladimir Putin begging Washington to come to his aid’.  A piece from Bloomberg concurs that a rescue package is not on the cards.  Meanwhile the European Union’s foreign policy Federica Mogherini has indicated there are signs of ‘some willingness‘ from Russia to resolve the crisis in Ukraine’s pro-separatist eastern territories.  Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has denied Russia has any plans to annex the aforementioned territories, stating, ‘it’s for Ukrainians to decide’.  OSCE monitors have registered no use of heavy armaments near Donetsk since Monday.