"David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer

Russian ruble exchange rate is undervalued by almost 70%.One dollar should cost 23,12 rubles, not 75. This is the conclusion of the Economist, based on "big Mac index".

2016 will only bring more disappointment for many countries, including Russia, say economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federationmaвe a list ofMajor foreign policy events of 2015:

Alexei Kudrin, who was Russia's finance minister from 2000 to 2011, is in talks with Vladimir Putin and other top officials about returning to a senior post to help deal with worsening economic troubles, according to three people familiar with the discussions, Bloomberg reports.

The only interest in the markets remain focused on oil prices which recovered sharply ahead of the Christmas holiday only to give back gains as traders returned afterwards.

Three months into his military intervention in Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin has achieved his central goal of stabilizing the Assad government and, with the costs relatively low, could sustain military operations at this level for years, U.S. officials and military analysts say.

The Russian ruble has fallen to 72.47 against the US dollar, its worst exchange rate since December 17 last year. Fluctuations in the exchange rate are connected with further falling oil prices, RT reports.

The GBP/USD is set to move in the holiday season trading below the 1.49 level having gained in the Asian session as traders bought up the underpriced currency.

The Russian Foreign Ministry is urging those Russian holiday-makers who are going to Vienna for New Year Holidays to stay on guard in view of the risk of terrorist attacks in the Austrian capital, TASS reports.

The Celebration of the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic Warbecame the most significant event of the year 2015, said the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, speaking at a New Year reception in the Kremlin on December 25.

Chief Executive Officer of Russia’s top lender Sberbank expects the trend of weakening ruble to persist in 2016, he said in an interview aired by the Rossiya-24 TV news channel on December 25.