NPR.

This is the indicator.

I'm Paddy Hirsch.

I'm joined today by Planet Money's Erika Berris.

Erika, thank you for joining us today.

Oh, so happy to be here.

Well, it's a delight to have you.

And today, Erika and I are going to talk about the Russian rubble.

Back in February, when Russia invaded Ukraine and a coalition of nations imposed sanctions

on Russia, President Biden said that Russia was going to be in the hands of the Russian

currency, the rubble would be reduced to rubble.

And initially, it looked as though it might go that way.

The rubble dropped 50% in value against the dollar, giving Biden an opportunity to

glow to wee bit.

One rubble is now worth less than one American penny.

But just 36 days later, the rubble was right back where it was when the war in Ukraine began.

And it was Vladimir Putin who was rubbing his hands with Glee.

And today, the rubble's even higher.

In fact, it hasn't been this high since 2015.

And looking at this remarkable recovery, I can't help think of the supervillain Bain

from the Batman series.

You know who Bain is?

...