Russian stock market sent into accelerated decline by geopolitics news, MOEX recoils to 2610

MOSCOW. Nov 27 (Interfax) - The Russian stock market began to decline at a faster rate on Thursday evening after Russian President Vladimir Putin's statements on the illegitimacy of the current Ukrainian government, in which he made it clear that the Ukraine conflict could not be expected to be resolved soon; the MOEX index recoiled to around 2610 points.

The MOEX was down 2.1% at 2613.28 and the RTS 2.1% at 1047.46 by 17:32. Most blue chip stocks on the Moscow Exchange decreased by no more than 3.5%.

Putin said that there was no point in signing documents with the current Ukrainian leadership since it had made a strategic error, being too fearful of declaring a presidential election and losing its legitimacy.

"It is pointless to sign documents with the Ukrainian leadership - I have spoken on this subject many times. I believe that the Ukrainian leadership made a fundamental, strategic mistake in being too afraid to run a presidential election; subsequently, the president lost his legitimate status," Putin told journalists following his visit to Kyrgyzstan.

Putin also said that the military action in Ukraine would stop when the Ukrainian Armed Forces leave the occupied territories in the Donbass.

"If the Ukrainian troops leave the territories they have occupied, the military action will stop. If they don't leave, we will make it happen by military means," Putin told journalists.

The possible confiscation of Russian assets which the European Union has recently begun to discuss will have negative consequences for the global financial system and the Russian government is developing retaliatory measures for if this decision is indeed taken, Putin said.

Putin also said that there was a possibility that conditions could appear for Russia to interact with G7 countries if the peace plan for Ukraine is implemented, but he said it was too early to discuss this.