Putin’s Secret Gamble on Reserves Backfires Into Currency Crisis

Evgenia Pismennaya, Ilya Arkhipov and Brad Cook

December 17, 2014, 4:00 PM EST Updated on December 18, 2014, 11:57 AM EST

Kremlin insiders gathered in secret last February to answer a crucial question for Vladimir Putin: Could Russia afford the economic blowback from taking over Crimea?

Moscow said yes.