Though am not a Russian but when it comes to reality and technical development I love the country and I wish others too should follow up the trail in support for btc, it surprised me and I feel bad when I hear some countries are yet to support the move for btc adoption, why?... Is it under-development or lack of civilization, here in this article one of the Russian's self regulatory organization called Russian's Association of Currency Brokers made in a statement that the Bitcoin investment is preferred to Gold and forex.
If a country can lead the move in support for crypto, then the young agile populating youths will take the challenge for emulation. Crypto is not a scam, it's a new development launch of digital currency and it's going world wide on acceptability with full operational usage.
It is definitely understandable considering the environment that most Russian's live in. Having physical assets that can be stolen by criminals or the government very easily makes precious metals a big no-no. Forex has always been an extremely risky endeavor that is only profitable for the very few and again, if you are successful a nosy government official might easily seize your bank accounts for their personal benefit. That leaves Bitcoin/cryptocurrency as a very desirable asset that is easy to access across borders and allows them to move money out of Russia while in their full control. It is almost the perfect counter to a totalitarian and authoritative regime - decentralized banking.