The RTS Index plunged after Russia defaulted on domestic debt in August 1998.
The 1998 Russian financial crisis followed years of fiscal pressure, weak tax collection, falling commodity prices, and the costs of maintaining the ruble's exchange-rate band. On August 17, 1998, the Russian government devalued the ruble, restructured domestic debt, and announced a temporary moratorium on some foreign debt payments.
Russian equities collapsed as investors reassessed the country's financial and political risks. The RTS Index, established in 1995 and originally calculated in U.S. dollars, became a widely watched measure of Russian share prices.
The RTS should not be confused with the later MICEX Index. The two Moscow-based markets merged in 2011, creating the Moscow Exchange, but the RTS name remained associated with the dollar-denominated index and its historical record.