Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel: At 7:32 p.m., the ruble was around 1.5 percent stronger at 66.90 ruble per dollar and traded some 1.5 percent up versus the euro at 76.3. , according to The Moscow Times. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande plan to fly together to Kiev and Moscow with a proposal to resolve the conflict. Russian assets reversed their early session losses on Thursday, with market players betting that German and French leader visits to Kiev and Moscow would take the edge off the Ukraine crisis. The dollar-denominated RTS index was 4.4 percent higher at 804.5 points and the ruble-based traded 2.4 percent up at 1,696 points. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.