Estonian cards in Turkey, Italian cards in Singapore: ordinary Russians abroad are using foreign...

Maria went to buy a green juice on campus one day in late February but her card was declined.

Next, she tried to buy some groceries. Again, her card was declined.

The 23-year old Russian student, who did not wish to share her last name, is doing an exchange semester in Singapore and had heard a day earlier that her Russian bank card would be blocked. She wanted to test it to see if it was true.

"We're worth nothing, basically," she told Insider, referring to the value of Russian currency.