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- Wall Street reaped billions from ruble trading in the Ukraine war's first year, Bloomberg reports.
- Banks would buy dollars cheaply and sell them at a markup to Western firms fleeing Russia.
- Western banks turned to lesser-known peers in countries on good terms with Russia, such as Kazakhstan and Armenia.
The world's biggest banks tripled their ruble trading revenue last year, as Moscow's war on Ukraine pushed Western firms to accept exchange rates at steep markups.