The rouble pared some recent losses on Tuesday, regaining ground after a sell-off last week caused by renewed fears that Russia could invade Ukraine.
At 0701 GMT, the rouble was 0.6% stronger against the dollar at 76.30 but hovered away from levels near 75 that it hit before its sharpest drop in nearly two years on Friday.
Versus the euro, the rouble strengthened 0.3% to 86.49
The rouble is extending gains it posted on Monday after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov suggested to President Vladimir Putin that Moscow should continue along the diplomatic path in its efforts to extract security guarantees from the West.
U.S. officials have warned that Moscow was continuing to amass more than 100,000 troops near Russia's border with Ukraine and in neighbouring Belarus, and could at any time launch a devastating attack, including on Kyiv. Moscow denies Western accusations that it is planning an invasion.
"The shuttle diplomacy continues – as long as the West remains vocal on the issue, the market will continue to follow headlines, with the binary outcome (a further deterioration vs conciliation) suggesting significant up/downside," BCS Global Markets said.
The rouble also received support from export-focused companies selling foreign currency earlier this week, VTB Capital said.
Brent crude oil LCOc1 , a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was down 0.6% at $95.92 a barrel after rallying to a seven-year high.
Russian stock indexes were up, also recovering after Friday's sell-off.
The dollar-denominated RTS index rose 2.2% to 1,458.3 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 1.6% higher at 3,535.9 points.
(Reporting by Andrey Ostroukh; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
