Russian rouble weakens after Trump's Russia comments

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian rouble weakened against the U.S. dollar on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was "pissed off" at Russian President Vladimir Putin and threatened buyers of Russian oil with tariffs.

By 0920 GMT, the rouble was down 0.7% at 85.50 against the dollar in the over-the-counter market. The Russian currency is up by about 25% against the dollar this year, mostly on expectations of easing geopolitical tensions.

Trump told NBC News on March 30 that he was very angry after Putin criticised the credibility of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's leadership. His comments reflect his growing frustration about the lack of movement on a ceasefire.

"The news backdrop, at the very least, has halted the formation of optimistic expectations in the market, which limits demand for rouble-denominated assets," said Denis Popov from PSB bank.

The rouble also lost support from foreign currency conversion by exporting companies, which had been buying up roubles last week to make their corporate tax payments.

"After the exhaustion of fundamental factors that created a slight oversupply of foreign currency last week, there is a risk that the value of the rouble may shift to somewhat weaker levels," Popov added.

Against the Chinese yuan, the most traded foreign currency in Russia, the rouble was down 0.2% to 11.70, on the Moscow Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Gareth Jones)