Russia is smashing open its $45 billion piggy bank of Chinese yuan as energy revenue crashes

• Russia is stepping up sales of Chinese yuan as energy revenues have fallen. 
• The Kremlin is further drawing down its $45 billion stockpile of renminbi. 
• Moscow saw a decline of 54% in energy revenue in January from December. 

Russia is increasing sales of its foreign exchange reserves to plug a hole in its budget as energy revenues crash.

The finance ministry said Friday that it will sell 160.2 billion rubles ($2.3 billion) worth of foreign currency from February 7 to March 6. That's nearly triple the 54.5 billion rubles worth of forex sold last month.