NEWSLINK Reuters: Russia cuts key interest rate, hopes worst of crisis over

Russia’s central bank cut its main lending rate by 1-1/2 percentage points on Thursday, its third rate cut this year, a sign that it believes the worst of an economic crisis is over.

The cut to 12.5 percent follows the rouble’s recovery in recent weeks after a dramatic decline last year as global oil prices fell and Western economic sanctions over Moscow’s role in the Ukraine conflict bit.