russian currency

You might be able to get a credit for buying rubles at a certain rate, but unless the law has changed since I last visited Russia (possible, the Russian government is notorious for changing laws with little notice), it is illegal to export rubles outside of Russia. Let us know what happens.

The ruble fluctuates far more than the euro, so answering the question "Is that good?" is impossible to know without considering hundreds of other esoteric ecomomic criterea. That being said, 31 rubles to the dollar is less than when I last visited in 2006.

By the way, you can't pre-purchase rubles. They are only available in Russia, due to restrictions on currency exportation. As in the rest of Europe, however, ATMs are widely available in the cities, although you may to have search a little bit.

That's interesting about not being able to purchase Roubles outside of Russia. I called Wells Fargo Bank and they said it would take about a week to get the money in.

Wells Fargo Bank said the purchasing of russian rubles can be done. Up to 3000.00 can be exchanged. Takes about a week to process. For now the rules have changed.

Interesting that you can buy Rubles ahead of time. No currency out of the country is what I've always heard too. It was always a silly rule but I'm sure they had their reasons.

Same advice as always. Do you really need to prepurchase currency? Some people have real reasons to have cash on arrival, most would be better off just using an ATM in the area.

Are you going on your own or with a tour?

Anyway here's an exchange rate history graph. Hope it helps:

http://www.exchange-rates.org/history/RUB/USD/G

"It was always a silly rule but I'm sure they had their reasons."

I think the original reason was because during the currency crash of the 1990s, people were exchanging huge quantities of rubles for foreign currency, which made a bad situation worse. If the restrictions have been relaxed, that would be a welcome development, although of little benefit for an individual traveler.