[neilwilson]

How can the central bank have done that given they are banned from transacting in dollars?

The central bank of Russia has just relaxed its controls on Russians moving money to friendly countries.

https://apple.news/AfMMfcmbfTHS_nbGj96-nRA

Isn’t it just the case that Russians have no need of dollars because they can’t buy anything with them. So they get rid of them for roubles which they can use to buy things.

Demand and supply does the rest.

[Arnt]

Their central bank is only sanctioned in about two dozen countries. It can conduct dollar transactions in India, for example.

I assume the sanctions also cover Indian subsidiaries, so the Russians won't be able to trade against e.g. Goldman Sachs's Indian subsidiary. But there are plenty of banks that aren't owned by motherships in the two dozen sanctioning countries.