Russian rouble hovers near 82 to the US dollar

April 15 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble hovered near 82 to the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, with the Russian currency highly susceptible to geopolitical news around the war in Ukraine and oil price moves.

The rouble has appreciated sharply so far this year, buoyed by improved relations between Moscow and Washington and hopes for some kind of ceasefire in Ukraine, as well as by interest rates at 21%.

By 0843 GMT the rouble RUB= was down 0.2% at 82.40 against the dollar on the over-the-counter market.

"The news background remains ... the key trigger determining the movement of exchange rates in the Russian foreign exchange market," said Yevgeny Loktyukhov of Promsvyazbank, especially given limited demand for foreign currency from imports.

A slight recovery in oil prices in recent days and increased state FX sales this month have given the rouble a slight boost.

Russia is now selling 10.5 billion roubles ($127.4 million) of yuan each day after the finance ministry this month switched to making FX sales from purchases after lower output and tax changes led to a shortfall in March's budgeted oil and gas revenues.

Brent crude oil LCOc1, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 0.6% at $65.26 a barrel, but still down around $10 this month on concerns over global trade.

Against the Chinese yuan, the most traded foreign currency in Russia, the rouble was up 0.1% at 11.19 on Moscow Exchange.

($1 = 82.4000 roubles)