Scenes from Putin’s Economic Meltdown

Scenes from Putin’s Economic Meltdown - Alec Luhn - POLITICO Magazine:
"Get the hot deals while they last!
Whatever’s on your holiday shopping list—buy now, it may never be this cheap again!
In a single day this past week, the ruble exchange rate dropped from 59 to 80 to the dollar, further eroding confidence in the Russian economy and ensuring a deep recession next year—but also briefly turning Moscow into the shopping capital of the world.
Although this past week’s currency crisis marked the worst fall for the ruble since Russia defaulted on its debt in 1998, no one was waiting in bread lines or starting a run on the bank.
Instead, anyone with any cash at all went on a buying spree.
....The ruble has lost over half its value this year as falling oil prices and Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis hit Russia’s energy-dependent economy. 
But a drop of 10 percent on Monday and another 10 percent on what has come to be known as “Black Tuesday” further shook consumers, undermined investor confidence and revealed divisions among the country’s elite on how to react. 
Nonetheless, Russians’ approval for President Vladimir Putin has remained sky-high.
Buying continued on Wednesday as major electronics chains had yet to raise their prices.
“I apologize; I argued with them, but they sold every last one,” an M.video employee informed a man who was trying to purchase a washing machine. “F—k your apologies,” the man yelled back as he stormed off to complain to a manager."