Russian Ruble Back Over 100 to the Dollar Today

The Russian Ruble has been inching toward the 100/1 for weeks now, but has now inched past it. If you recall, it was 74 to the dollar before the latest phase of the war with Ukraine began, hit about 130 to the dollar shortly thereafter, then settled back to fluctuate between 85 and 90 to the dollar until its recent decline.

Previously, Russian banks have dumped precious metals and other items (I suspect but cannot verify that this includes diamonds) to generate hard currencies to buy and use to prop up the ruble. We should see whether they do this in the next couple weeks, or if their currency keeps inflating. While it won't affect the oligarchs, who keep much of their wealth in foreign hard currency accounts and real estate, the next strata down the hierarchy (urban professionals of Moscow and St. Petersburg and various lackeys of the oligarchs) are likely to feel this most in the consumer market for sanctioned goods. Poorer Russians probably won't feel it much, since their purchasing power, and thus consumption of imported goods, isn't much. How or whether this affects the war would be guesswork on my part, but I'm sure articles will be written.

If you're wondering, I keep tabs on the rouble (and other currencies) here:
https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=1&From=USD&To=RUB