Unless you can go into a Russian bank and exchange your roubles for gold, the rouble is not backed by gold.
This is correct.
Russia pegged the ruble to gold by offering to buy gold at 5000 rubles per gram. In effect, this mechanism serves to drive physical gold into Russian vaults in exchange for paper backed by physical Russian export commodities.
This offer combines with Russia's new export rules that say Russian exports must be sold in rubles to unfriendly countries.
Russia also began making their interest payments on their eurobond debt in rubles. Russia is willing to trade those rubles for euros only when their foreign reserve accounts are unfrozen. Otherwise, those rubles can probably have to be resold to third parties who do trade with Russia.
Russia has not offered to buy rubles with gold.
The ruble is now backed by Russian commodities exports - perhaps it can now be called the petro ruble.
This situation may drive up the price of physical gold, as traders seek to purchase more of it to cash in on ruble exchange rates.
The last thing the West wants to do is pay Russia with real gold - so I'm not cure what will happen when global fiat holders start demanding to buy real gold for fiat from the gold hordes.
This could get very interesting indeed.
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