President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia pledged $20bn (€14bn, £11bn) on Thursday to shore up the nation’s stock markets after the worst declines since the August 1998 crash.

Mr Medvedev’s pledge came as the finance ministry rolled out an crisis plan aimed at boosting liquidity in the banking system, which would double the amount of budget funds placed in short-term deposits at the three main state-controlled banks to a total of Rbs1,500bn ($59.1bn).