Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was due to meet his Ukrainian opposite number Dmytro Kuleba in Turkey – the first high-level diplomacy undertaken between the two countries since Moscow launched the invasion of its neighbour on 24th February.

The central bank review of the key rate was due on March 10 and is now expected to be held on March 17.

The rate on access operations to provide liquidity was kept at 14.5 percent and the rate on access operations to withdraw liquidity - at 12.5 percent.