>Russian exports have been badly dented, but some oil and gas remains. Russian imports have been completely wrecked. Effectively the sanctions have _improved_ t

>Russian exports have been badly dented, but some oil and gas remains. Russian imports have been completely wrecked. Effectively the sanctions have _improved_ their balance of payments. Yes, I think this is the key. The difference between Russia and Argentina (where gus_massa is) is that in the latter, anyone with US dollars can buy things from/travel to abroad. Thus there is meaningful demand for dollars that contrary to the "official" exchange rate, appears in the unofficial "dolar azul" rate. By contrast, as spaceheater said, "Since the whole world seems to hate Russians right now, I guess no point buying USD and traveling somewhere".