The Bank of Russia raised interest rates to 12% Tuesday, in a bid to prop up the plunging ruble.Hank5/Getty Images The Bank of Russia raised interest rates by 350 basis points to 12% at an emergency meeting Tuesday. It's trying to prop up the ruble, which plummeted to a 16-month low this week. The currency strengthened in the immediate aftermath of the central bank’s latest move. Russia's central bank hoisted interest rates to their highest level in over a year Tuesday, after policymakers held an emergency meeting to address the ruble's sudden plunge.The Bank of Russia said in a statement that it would raise rates by 350 basis points to 12%, lifting borrowing costs to their highest levels since just after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.It brought in the rate hike after the ruble fell to a 16-month low of nearly 102 to the dollar Monday, leading to Moscow publicly rebuking the central bank.In an op-ed for the state-owned news agency TASS, Putin's economic advisor Maxim Oreshkin blamed "soft monetary policy" for both "the ruble's weakening" and the "acceleration of inflation," which rose to 4.3% in July.The Bank of Russia responded to Oreshkin's criticisms by calling an emergency meeting, where it voted to raise interest rates for the second month in a row.The ruble strengthened in the immediate aftermath of the central bank's decision, climbing around 1% to under 98 to the dollar at just before 5 a.m.