A Russian economist and former government adviser yesterday denied personal accusations levelled at him by the head of the central bank, heating up a war of words over the fate of the rouble. "The statement by Central Bank Chairman Sergei Dubinin is not only absurd but a clear and conscious lie," Andrei Illarionov, a former government adviser, said.

A day earlier, Dubinin, who once told Russians to "spit in the eye" of anyone who advocated devaluing the rouble, told a news conference he had heard rumours Illarionov might have a personal financial interest in seeing his predictions of an imminent devaluation come true.