Russia is now walking back their statements on demanding rubles for oil exports to countries they deem "unfriendly."
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/russia-will-not-demand-immediate-switch-gas-payments-roubles-kremlin-2022-03-30/Appears they understand they cannot further restrict their economy when it's already on the decline. IMO Russia understands the war is a lost cause and they have no way to circumvent the sanctions, so they have to play the game that the West wants them to play. Using China and India as trading partners can only support Russia's economy to a certain extent. Being isolated from the West has ramifications. There were also some reports that Putin's military generals are downplaying the status of the war and the severity of Russian troop losses because they don't want to be the bearer of bad news. Putin is losing control of his economy and his military.
If they break the terms of existing contracts, nobody would want to sign any contracts with Russia, ever again.
Even Soviet barbarians do understand that.
Besides this was just a power play for domestic media consumption.
There was no economic benefit to be paid in Rubles, actually a small loss due to spread in the exchange rate.
If nothing will change, in the next couple of years, Russia will be fucked royally as the West stops buying raw materials from Russia and stops
selling their finished products to Russia.
Russians have one big problem. They think their nation, their culture, and their country are better than any other country.
The sad reality is that their economy is the size of Texas, and their GDP per capita (10K) is less than half of that of tiny Estonia (23K).
Russia is one of the poorest countries in continental Europe.
Talk about mismanagement, lol.