Vasily Astrov, expert on the Russian economy at the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, told Newsweek that "inflation has really subsided markedly over the past few months. The outcome of this policy has been a marked cooling of domestic demand, with the welcome side effect of rapid disinflation.

Ukraine said it would send a high-level negotiating team to Turkey peace talks with Russia, even as Moscow wrote off the talks before they had started.

The Kremlin said on Monday that Moscow was in favour of a new round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine but the two sides' positions were diametrically opposed so there was a lot of diplomatic work to be done.