What was the name of the 1998 crash in Russia that followed its sovereign debt default?

The 1998 crash in Russia that followed its sovereign debt default was the Russian financial crisis.

Russia devalued the ruble and declared a moratorium on some foreign debt payments on 17 August 1998. The government also restructured domestic ruble debt. These measures followed falling oil prices, fiscal weakness, political uncertainty, and pressure on the country’s exchange-rate system.

The ruble lost much of its value, Russian banks failed or became insolvent, and stock prices plunged. The crisis also damaged international investors and contributed to the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management, a highly leveraged U.S. hedge fund, although that fund’s failure had multiple causes.

The event is sometimes called the “ruble crisis,” but Russian financial crisis is the broader standard description. It should not be confused with the 1997 Asian financial crisis, which helped create international conditions for the Russian episode but began in Thailand.