By Caroline Valetkevitch and Saqib Iqbal Ahmed NEW YORK (Reuters) – Commodity-linked currencies strengthened on Wednesday as the impact of an escalating conflict in Ukraine kept prices surging for oil and other raw materials. The Russian rouble fell 4.5% to 106.02 against the dollar in Moscow trade. During the session, it hit a record low of 110.0, with Western sanctions following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine pummeling Russia’s financial system. The rouble has lost about a third of its value against the dollar since the start of the year. In later trading outside of Russia, the rouble strength…