The Russian stock-market crash and debt default occurred in 1998.
Russia’s financial crisis reached its peak in August 1998, when the government devalued the ruble, declared a moratorium on some foreign debt payments, and restructured domestic ruble debt. Russian share prices had already been falling amid weak tax collection, low oil prices, political uncertainty, and heavy reliance on short-term government borrowing.
The crisis undermined confidence in Russian banks and businesses. The ruble’s collapse increased the burden of foreign-currency obligations, while inflation and banking failures damaged households and companies. The turmoil also contributed to the failure of Long-Term Capital Management in the United States, although that hedge-fund collapse had additional causes.
The episode is often confused with the 1997 Asian crisis because both involved capital flight and emerging markets. Russia’s default, however, was a distinct 1998 event with its own fiscal and commodity-price pressures.