March 8th or 9th, depending on the time zone. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/03/08/ruble-dollar-exchange-barred/
And based on that (and the mark on this chart - which is that time) your belief is that the ruble has appreciated because the Russian government limited buying and selling of the ruble, and nothing else?
Thats a good question. I wouldn’t say nothing else as there is a whole world to to consider and of course the Russians are signaling some progress toward a reduction in hostilities with Ukraine is a global factor. However, I would say that the controls put in place by the CRB and the government is the overwhelming force that gives the appearance of a higher ruble. They’re controlling domestic inflation rather well for the time being. Is there some other greater force to the swing in the ruble?
Indeed, as I posted a couple times quite a while ago, that some of these crapistan countries are obscure but they are small signs (which are now becoming bigger signs) that Vlad is out there by himself even among some of his closest supporters and neighbors. I said that when I saw that Putin had requested troops from Kazakshstan and the they said no. Excuse me. But did you say, "no". And they stood with Ukraine, hello......you want to die...Vlad just put you on his hit list. And then ditto for Ubekistan...and probably some other crapistans that I am not up to speed on. And yes they are still trading with Russia because they are still in that orbit but- countries within the orbit parting with Vlad on Ukraine and refusing to send troops is A big help to the world. Ukraine be like: I WILL TAKE THAT, THANK YOU. Since I covered it some previous posts, I will keep it short but, as a reminder, these crapistan countries are wall-to-wall Uyghars and China fears greatly that the Taliban will rally with them to form a more organized muslim Central Asia and give China a YUGE problem on its back door. China was hoping that having Russia and Putin as a vassal state would control that but now Putin is losing control of them. So there be that.
I believe there is - I believe that people are looking at Russian assets on the cheap and are trying to get in at a perceived "bottom". That, plus the fact that the supposed "sanctions" are a total joke, are isolated to a group of Western nations and no where near as biting as they were claimed to be.
As I say regularly: The United Nations is as worthless as tits on a nun. Let this month be no different.
We will see then and this isn’t exactly a static situation either. I do disagree with you. I think the Russians can hold on for some time with what they have but their well for much of their imports is capped and their ability to move in the global market is severely limited. Their exports are pretty well stuck in local currencies, ie rupees to rubles. As I said in some earlier posts, the Russians can look to some one to one trade like with India and China for some food stuffs, medical goods and even low quality tech but there’s not too much other than that outside of the dollar/euro market. The Russians need to get dollars and euros moving in and out to stabilize their currency before they can take controls off. Otherwise they will end up piles of rupees and very little to spend it on.