Russia has learned its lesson from mispricing oil back in late 2014 and 2015, which led to a recession and radical changes at the central bank. Back then, oil was on its way to the $30s from the high $80s, falling to its lowest level since the Great Recession in the winter of 2016. Russia's entire government's budget is based on oil revenues. By underestimating the fall in oil prices twice, from $80 to $60 to $50, Russia, was forced to make cuts that hurt low income individuals most.
The central bank in 2015 changed its monetary policy in a radical move in November of 2014, opting to let the ruble freefloat against the dollar instead of keeping it in a tight trading band. Inflation rose to double digits. Inflation is now under 4% and the central bank is cutting interest rates, having sliced them 50 basis points recently to 7.75%.
