Apple shuts down sales at its Russian online store after ruble value dives

Apple turned off sales at its Russian online store due to a sharp fall in the value of the ruble, the company said Tuesday.

“Our online store in Russia is currently unavailable while we review pricing,” said Apple spokesman Alan Hely in a statement to Bloomberg. “We apologize to customers for any inconvenience.”

The ruble lost 19 percent of its value today, even after the Russian government instituted an interest rate increase to stop the run on the currency. The ruble sank beyond 80 per dollar, and investors began rapidly selling off stocks and bonds.

Apple has been adjusting the prices of its products on the site to deal with the ruble valuation shifts. It recently raised the price of the iPhone 6 by 25 percent to account for the change. But the company apparently feels the instability is too great to continue using price adjustments as a remedy.

Apple has said in previous quarterly earnings reports that the strong value of the dollar is creating “headwinds” for the value of its sales overseas. The decline in the value of the ruble only compounded the problem for Apple today.