What was the 1998 stock-market crisis in which Russia defaulted on domestic debt and devalued its currency called?

The 1998 stock-market crisis in which Russia defaulted on domestic debt and devalued its currency was the Russian financial crisis. In August 1998, Russia devalued the ruble and declared a temporary moratorium on some foreign debt payments.

The crisis followed weak oil prices, fiscal problems, political uncertainty, and the financial pressures left by the 1997 Asian crisis. Russia had relied heavily on short-term government securities, and investors became increasingly unwilling to roll over that debt. The resulting loss of confidence put severe pressure on the ruble and domestic financial institutions.

The shock also spread through global markets. The highly leveraged hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management suffered major losses because of its exposure to market dislocations and was later supported through a private-sector rescue arranged by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The Russian crisis and the LTCM episode are related but not identical names for the same event.