Russia will take new measures to sustain the ruble, acting president Vladimir Putin announced Thursday, as the currency came under fresh pressure.

Putin gave his backing to a proposal by central bank governor Viktor Gerachshenko who wants to force Russian exporters to sell all their foreign currency through the exchange market. The governor also discussed with Putin a possible lowering of interest rates. At the moment exporters have to process 75 percent of foreign currency earnings through the officia market. "This proposition goes in the right direction, there are few countries that give their exporters the possibility of keeping" their currency earnings, Putin told NTV television. "But this decision must be balanced and must be accompanied by a toughening of controls on the exit of currencies. It must not however damage the interests of exporters," he added. Putin said lowering interest rates would boost the economy, the Russian financial markets and industry. The ruble fell Thursday to 27.23 to the dollar against 26.95 during the last trading session on December 27. It also fell against the euro to 28.23 rubles from 27.35.