the USD was so much more preferred for such a long time, especially as the ruble was losing 10% of its value each month at one point, that the Russians have made settling cash transactions in non-ruble's illegal.
They also introduced a plethora of cash import and export laws, since at one point 90%+ of all transactions and 60%+ of GDP was black/grey market cash and in USD. Russia is still a cash heavy economy, now its just ruble's instead of dollars.
It means you find it hard to buy or sell rubles outside of Russia, and inside exchanging USD is expensive since the purchaser (edit: exchange businesses) needs to have a license for exchange and a license to hold USD.
off course people still use the dollar, but its no longer a case that you have a black market cash exchanger standing on every street corner, or every restaurant and bar etc. accepting USD. It is why more recently some politicians have called on a complete ban on foreign currencies, and a ban on any cash payments for goods over a certain value.
The difference between now and 10 years ago for foreigners is that credit cards are more broadly accepted and easy to use, as are ATM's for foreign cards. I wouldn't even bother going through the hoops of dealing with cash or exchanging cash were I visiting.