Hi Martianius. Here's an explanation I left on a YT video recently:

Rubbles OR dollars. Both worth nothing by themselves. A rubble or dollar is only worth something WHEN you exchange it for a good or service. If you can buy an iPhone for $1,000 what is 1,000 dollars worth? $1,000. If you can't buy an iPhone for even 1 0,000,000 rubbles what is the rubble worth? Nothing if the iPhone is what you want.

Here's an old joke that explains this. A woman goes to a baker and asks for 10 rolls for a $1 each. The baker says says he doesn't have any. She goes to the next baker and asks for 10 rolls but says 'no' when she learns they're $1.10. She says. The baker down the road has them for $1! The baker says, "Come back when I run out. Mine will be $1 too."

Or, what's a million dollars in cash worth on an island with a few people?

More and more, Russians will want things they simply can't buy with rubbles. They'll have to buy on the black market and those rates will become the reality.

Russians don't need many new Western product NOW (they're still working off inventory) so they don't see the above. The rubble to dollar rate published by the Russian financial system is like what might be published by the system after a nuclear war. It would take a while for the values to be reset based on real exchanges.

The rate only means something if you can get the goods and services you want when you exchange rubbles for dollars.

Another example, how many rubbles must one convert to Euros to fly to Europe? Many rubbles for a Big Mac? How many rubbles for IKEA furniture?

The meanoever is time.