Russia's central bank recently announced that it has cut the amount of target forex interventions from $60 million a day to zero.

The adjustment was made to ensure the further increase of the ruble exchange rate flexibility in the context of the ongoing transition to a floating exchange rate, it said.

The global financial crisis that started in 2008 hit Russia's economy and financial markets extremely hard. In the wake of the crisis, the ruble came under strong pressure from large capital outflows due to falling export revenues as a result of the decline in commodities prices.

The Bank of Russia intervened in the domestic foreign exchange market in order to slow this depreciation, but it has since entered into a transitional phase from an exchange rate-based monetary policy to one focused on price stability, increased exchange rate flexibility and, ultimately, a shift to a floating exchange rate regime by 2015.