True. Due to long term contracts in place, some oil is not purchased using rubles. Still, other European countries including Netherlands, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, Greece and others are purchasing in rubles. Also, India and China are purchasing a large amount of oil. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/who-is-still-buying-...
“By paying in ruble they create an artificial demand for the currency, making it worth more.”
The demand is not artificial. The demand is the damn. Europe still imports 27% of oil from Russia.
“However Russian government can make the same thing with the euro / dollars they receive from oil / gas purchase. “
This is false. They cannot “do the same thing with the euro / dollars”.
“The only reason they asked others pay in ruble is so they don’t have to do the conversion themselves because you know, with all the sanctions it is a pain to do it.”
Again, false. They are deliberately increasing the value of the ruble.
“I’ve never seen anything about the gold standard thing”
I’m surprised I haven’t seen the right answers here yet, so I will chime in.
1. Russia produces 12% of the world's oil and has a similar share of global oil exports. [0] Those purchases are now being made in Rubels.[1] This was a direct retaliation to the USA and European sanction efforts. Before this oil was universally exchanged in USD or EUR. This has helped prop up the Rubel.
2. Russia moving back to a gold standard. [2] This is the single most interesting economic move in my opinion. Russia is continuing to buy more of the worlds gold supply. The Rubel is going to be pinned to the Gold standard. This makes the Rubel incredibly attractive as it can be a stable currency and easier to purchase than Gold itself.
My personal feeling (contrary to most comments here) is that the sanctions have a terrible effect on the USA and Europe and have contributed to a world where China, India and Russia will be working to destabilize the USD and its allies. Moving away from the petrodollar, SWIFT and other USD centric methods is a very negative proposition for those of us who live in the west.
This logic if flawed. I think your basic understanding of how retention, businesses and unions work is lacking, to say the least.
Mostly likely during this job market, apple identified key employees who are already well paid and made sure to keep them, by granting stock that vests over (4?) years.