Mikhail Gorbachev

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, warned that Russia needs to increase efforts to find a solution to its ailing economy.

Gorbachev’s comments to the state news agency RIA Novosti on Tuesday came a day after the ruble hit an all-time low against the euro. On Wednesday, the ruble slid further against the dollar, under pressure from the low oil price.

The ruble traded above 80.6 to the dollar in Moscow on Wednesday, down by more than 2 percent. That beat the mark of 80.1 set when the currency crashed in value in December 2014 before stabilizing.

The ruble has declined about 60 percent against Western currencies over two years.

Russian officials have suggested that the economic decline, which has also been driven by Western sanctions over the Ukraine conflict, can be an opportunity for the country to reorient the economy and make it less dependent on oil and gas. But Gorbachev said that so far “no such program has been put together.”

Russia’s economy and government revenues are suffering due to the country’s dependence on oil, which has traded at 12-year lows in recent weeks because of a supply glut and the return of Iran to world markets.

The IMF predicted Tuesday that Russia’s economy will contract by 1 percent in 2016 after a fall of 3.7 percent last year, before returning to 1 percent growth next year.

Russian President Vladimir Putin did not comment on the ruble’s fall during a televised discussion with business leaders, although he said that Russia’s economic foundations are “fairly solid, despite all the external risks and difficulties.”

The Russian Central Bank came in for criticism from Sergei Glazyev, an economist and aide to Putin. He said that the bank’s refusal to support the ruble “causes surprise and laughter around the world,” the Tass news agency reported. However, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov appeared to play down Glazyev’s remarks in a Wednesday conference call, saying that Putin does not take sides in economic disputes among senior officials.

People stand at a bus stop in front of an exchange office sign showing the currency exchange rates of the Russian ruble, US dollar, and euro in Moscow, on Jan. 11, 2016. The Russian ruble dropped to a new low on Wednesday.

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