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.
I have read that in Russia there were incidents of robbery on village churches, where orthodox relics are hosted. So you can imagine the case if someone has a lot of gold or silver bars in his possession. The national currency is less valuable when compared to toilet paper. The Ruble has lost around 60% of its value during the last 7 years. Worst hit are the pensioners and senior citizens, who have most of their savings in the form of fiat bank deposits. And ironically, this is the same group of people who are most opposed to Bitcoin.