Russia’s stock market is set to resume operations on March 24, nearly a month after trading was halted following a historic collapse. The MOEX Index plunged 33% in a single session on Feb. 25, the day after President Vladimir Putin ordered military forces into Ukraine. Since that day, stocks have not changed hands on the Moscow exchange.
The central bank has imposed a series of measures aimed at preventing a repeat of that crash. Short-selling is prohibited, and foreign shareholders—the primary targets of Western sanctions—are barred from selling their holdings.
Only 33 of the 50 companies in the benchmark index will be available for trading, including major state-owned firms such as Aeroflot, Gazprom, and Rosneft. These restrictions reflect a strategy of damage containment rather than confidence in market recovery. The ruble has been under severe pressure since the invasion, Western companies have exited the country, and Russian banks have experienced runs.
Panic buying of sugar and other staple goods has emptied store shelves in multiple cities. Before the invasion, Moscow’s total market capitalization stood at roughly $700 billion, a relatively small figure compared to the scale of sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies.
Central bank data from late 2021 indicates that approximately 7.7 trillion rubles—about $79 billion—of Russian stocks were held by retail investors. These ordinary Russians will now watch limited trading and face uncertainty about the value of their portfolios. The prices displayed on screens will not reflect genuine supply and demand, as foreign holders are locked out and short-selling is banned.
The central bank has already applied a similar approach to ruble-denominated government bonds, which resumed trading after nearly a month of suspension. In both cases, the strategy is to control market mechanics and manage the narrative.
The broader economic reality, however, remains beyond the central bank’s control. European and Japanese companies have pulled out of Russia. The ruble has been sharply devalued. The entire Russian financial system is under pressure that no trading halt can relieve.
The Kremlin’s ban on foreign selling is a defensive response to Western sanctions, acknowledging that allowing foreign holders to sell would trigger a devastating outflow of capital. Investors’ true sentiment will be impossible to gauge because the tools for expressing negative views—short-selling and foreign selling—have been removed.
The index may rise or fall, but it will do so within parameters set by the central bank. Sanctions remain in place, companies are not returning, and the ruble continues to lose ground. The reopening of the stock market is a limited step taken under heavy guard, while the real impact of the crisis is visible in bank queues, empty shelves, and a weakening currency.
