Last month, the central bank also lowered its forecast for Russia’s economic growth next year to 0.5 to 1.5 percent, compared with 3.5 to 4 percent this year. The slowdown comes even as the government continues to pump record amounts of money into the economy to finance the war.

Russia's sanctions-hit, militarized economy is expected to slow next year and banks' profits will fall, while the benchmark interest rate may climb to 23% by the end of this year, Andrei Kostin, CEO of Russia's second-largest lender,

The next U.S. administration may make an effort to ease tensions with Moscow but Western sanctions are unlikely to be lifted any time soon, Andrei Kostin, the CEO of Russia's second-largest bank, VTB,