june 7 reuters  russia on tuesday said exportfocused companies can transfer foreign currency to accounts overseas under certain conditions in a move aimed at helping to pay for imports and to dampen the surging rouble the finance ministry from tuesday will allowed exportoriented companies to transfer foreign currency received from nonresidents to their accounts overseas provided this is later returned to russia and sold on the market as per earlier state decrees this marks an easing of strict capital controls russia introduced shortly after sending troops to ukraine in february in a bid to protect its financial sector from capital flight and to support the rouble as a result the rouble has strengthened to around 60 per us dollar  a level not seen in years  after it fell to record lows in march read more russia started to ease the capital restrictions as the strong rouble has hit government revenues the central bank has cut its key interest rate by a combined 900 basic points to 11 since february to revive lending and to soften the rouble last month russia eased a mandatory rule for exportoriented companies to sell as much as 80 of their forex revenues at home setting a new limit of 50 as it seeks to halt the roubles surge vtb capital analysts said tuesdays decision should help russian exporters to improve foreign transactions as the risks of conducting forex operations via domestic banks have increased given that a growing number of russian banks are being cut off from international payments network swift