The Russian Ruble trimmed its early gains against the U.S. dollar in European deals on Thursday, as the Russian President Vladimir Putin did not provide no major measures to address the currency's collapse.

In a televised media conference, Putin blamed external factors such as collapsing oil prices and western economic sanctions for the ruble's decline and said the economic crisis could last two years.

Regarding the Central Bank of Russia's decision to step in yesterday to sell foreign currency reserves to arrest the ruble's collapse, Putin said that the central bank was right to act, but that it should probably have done so earlier. "I would not call the situation a crisis, you may call it whatever you want," he added.

The ruble was trading at 60.98 against the greenback, off early 10-day high of 55.07. The pair ended yesterday's trading at 61.29.

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