How did you withdraw cash from that tinkoff card?

Yes, in Russia

makes sense then. I thought you are abroad 😊

How's situation in russia now? Planning to go to St. Petersburg but I just have visa and Mastercard cards, how can I withdraw money? The ATM are working ?

You wouldn't be able to operate with Visa and MC cards issued outside of Russia completely

how people are making tx’s there? crypto? Union Pay?

In general (from what I hear from relatives and friends who remained) it's fine, eerily so.
People use Visa and MC issued inside russia (they are processed by an internal processing center) or Mir cards (work somewhat well across Russia). Union Pay is almost non-existent or useless

Bring cash. Cash is the king

As usual, a small reminder. I would not recommend it to anyone traveling to russia right now. Please don’t forget that country is at war and be sure you understand the risks of such a trip.

I had plans to go to the Far East upon obtaining my Colombian passport but really don't like the idea of walking around alone with wads of cash everywhere especially since I don't know anyone in the Far East and still a beginner (A1) in the language. But I am genuinely concerned for the well-being of Russian citizens. Sanctions are not a joke or just an inconvenience. Sanctions mean lack of access to life saving medications, medical equipment, farming machinery, etc. Let's be honest, it's the less populated districts that will be hit the hardest by sanctions as all money and resources are funneled to Moscow. I kind of wanted to do my part and help out the local economies a bit in the region.

This is a great cause and I admire you’re taking a part in helping. But I just wanted to warn you, just in case. The far east is probably much safer under any circumstances and turn of events.

The Far East is not aware of any sanctions. They did not have any wealth before and will not have any in feature. As you correctly said all money and resources are funneled to Moscow since 1991. How do I know? Lived there for 30 years.

yeah the regular people I know in Russia in less populated districts say the sanctions haven’t really changed their lives at all, I was surprised too

I see your point. I lived in Colombia when the global recession of 2008 took place and it didn't really change the economic woes of the working class in smaller towns because they were already not well off to begin with. But sanctions take time to wreck havoc on the general population. I'll try not to talk Политики on nomadlist but США sanctions have killed millions over the past decades to the present and wouldn't be surprised if the same happens to a segment of the Russian population.

🛬 zcriyrfkjrc just arrived in 🏰 Omsk, #russia

hello, I want to spend the summer in saint Pittsburg. wanted to ask about a way to send money to be able to take it out as needed when i am there? also how do i fiined housing as airbnb doesnt work?

Unless you have a russian bank account, there is no convenient way - just take cash with you (max 10K$ without declaration).
To find an apartment you can use ostrovok .ru, sutochno .ru or cian .ru, however, most apartments will require you to make a prepayment which is only possible via a russian bank card so you won't be able to do this either.
It is also not the best time to go in terms of prices, with the russian rouble being artificially kept at a high price, everything becomes much more expensive for foreigners than it used to be before the war (and it's expected to become even worse)

thank you, will try. do they give the official exchange rate or its like Argentina now with a black market exchange rate?

There is a black market, yes, but it's not that widespread yet and I don't think you will save too much on that at least right now (maybe like 10-15%). The current situation is a little bit paradoxical, with the import being cut off almost by 80-90% and with the restrictions to buy big amounts of foreign currencies the RUB value has been increasing a lot recently. Obviously, this does not mean that prices nominated in russian roubles have become any lower - they are increasing instead due to supply shortages. So it's quite possible that Russia will soon become more expensive than Switzerland or Norway (I think Angola used to have a very similar situation).

That‘s the key drawback that makes me postpone my journey to Russia. Waiting for the rouble to go down by at least 15%. 🙂