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As Russia’s central bank struggles to shield the ruble from the standoff over Ukraine, Vasily Isaev says it may already be too little, too late to save his Italian vacation plans.

“If you get your salary in rubles, a trip to the beach in Europe is going to be difficult this year,” said the 37-year-old sales manager, looking up from his English homework in the park near Tverskoy Boulevard in central Moscow. “We’re going to Bulgaria instead of Italy this year and we’re renting an apartment a little further away from the sea.”

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Consumers like Isaev, spending more than a few months ago to fill a shopping cart with everyday items, may be squeezed most by the currency’s decline as inflation quickens. Wobbling consumption threatens to knock out another pillar of the economy reeling from sanctions that stoked capital flight.

Unruffled by the central bank’s emergency measures, the ruble has depreciated as an expanding list of sanctions in response to President Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine sparked a selloff of assets. The ruble has weakened 7.2% this year, the third-worst performance after the Argentine and Chilean pesos among 24 emerging-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg. The currency fell 0.5% over the past month.