VENTURE CAPITAL POST

U.S. president Barack Obama has rejected the charge that he has been outmaneuvered by Russian president Vladimir Putin, saying in a TV interview due for broadcast later on Sunday that Putin was presiding over "a huge economic contraction" due to the Ukraine crisis.

European Union leaders endorsed a new investment programme intended to kick-start economic growth in the bloc at a summit in Brussels, which its chairman said would end late on Thursday, half a day earlier than planned.

Late on Monday night Russia's central bank governor wrung out an agreement with her officials to impose the country's biggest rate hike since the financial crisis of 1998 -- with the approval of President Vladimir Putin.

The ruble weakened against the dollar and euro on Thursday with traders saying President Vladimir Putin had so far offered no concrete measures to pull Russia out of a crisis at his end-of-year news conference.

The global economy is ending the year in a fragile state with factory activity shrinking in China, euro zone business growth remaining weak, and emerging market giant Russia in a spiraling currency crisis.

The ruble plunged more than 10 percent for the second day on Tuesday and recorded its worst fall since the Russian financial crisis in 1998 as confidence in the central bank evaporated after an ineffectual overnight rate hike.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande urged Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko on Sunday to press ahead with reforms to facilitate an economic recovery and access to foreign aid.

Ukraine's government has allowed state energy company Ukrinterenergo to import electricity from Russia to cover current power shortages caused by a lack of coal, the Ukrainian energy ministry said.

Ukraine expects Russia to resume supplies of gas from Monday after Kiev transferred a pre-payment of $378 million to Gazprom, its energy minister said on Sunday.

With freezing temperatures gripping Kiev, Ukraine's state energy firm Naftogaz said on Friday it had transferred $378 million to Russia's Gazprom to buy Russian gas for December, paving the way for the first shipments since Moscow cut supplies in June.

Russia on Monday scrapped the South Stream pipeline project to supply gas to southern Europe without crossing Ukraine, citing EU objections, and instead named Turkey as its preferred partner for an alternative pipeline, with a promise of hefty discounts.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Turkey on Monday will have trade and energy issues at its heart, but is not expected to bridge deep differences over Syria and Crimea.

Leaders from the G20 group of nations agreed on Sunday to boost flagging global growth, tackle climate change and crack down on tax avoidance but ties between the West and Russia plummeted to a new low over the crisis in Ukraine.

Russia does not intend to demand early repayment of $3 billion which it lent to Ukraine last year, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with German TV channel ARD, a transcript of which was released by the Kremlin on Saturday.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko issued several decrees on Saturday to shut state institutions and banking services in pro-Russian eastern regions, pressing a move to cut links with the rebel-held territory.