ALMATY, Kazakhstan — Bakytbek Ysmanov, a 64-year-old native of Kyrgyzstan, has been working in Russia for 15 years.
In the past 12 months he has watched the ruble fall by 28 percent against his homeland’s national currency, the som, with that slide in value picking up pace this summer.
That is a big problem for Ysmanov because he needs to pay off a mortgage in soms that he has on a home in the southern Kyr