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[xtremdelt8]

I guess this can be asked in any country forum...

When traveling abroad for vacation, it's very simple to to just find the first ATM in the airport arrival teminal and be on your way. (Sure, there may be a 2-3% fee added on, but I'm willing to pay for the ease and convenience)

I imagine moving long term to be a whole other issue when it comes to money management. When you do it, do you exchange for the local currency in your home country, or travel with a stock pile of your home currency and exchange it abroad? (That seems like a terrible idea) Do you just use ATMs until you open a local bank account? What about travelers checks? (I know more and more these are becoming obsolete, what with the explosion of ATMs around the world) Do the more out-of-the-way Russian cities have easy ATM access/exchange booths?

[jpvanderwerf2001]

First off, only the very smallest Russian cities/villages won't have a "Sberbank" ATM handy nowadays. So you should be able to extract cash from there (no guarantees, though).
I would never carry more than $1000, for real emergencies, with me. Unfortunately, you'll probably just have to live with the fees until opening a Russian bank account.
When I've used my WellsFargo cash card here, it's usually about $5 for every $100 I take out (so 5%), and that's just the WellsFargo fee! The local bank will slap on a transaction fee, too; so it comes out to more like 8% in total. It's of course better to use a foreign bank card directly with the store or whatever, as opposed to using cash, which is becoming more and more a reality here (meaning more shops are taking credit/debit cards than five years ago, certainly).
I would never try to go the traveler's check route in Russia. Acceptance or lack thereof (mostly the latter, I suspect) would be way too hit and miss.

[spiral78]

I was sent on a work contract to Moscow a couple of years ago, and the Canadian uni I worked for sent me with traveller's cheques to cover my daily expenses. Nightmare! Only one place I ever found to cash them, and it was the most time-consuming possible scenario. I could have taught an entire 2-hour class for each time I had to cash cheques, I think.

Not recommended.

[kazachka]

[jpvanderwerf2001]

Yes, they're basically worthless in Russia, and probably absolutely impossible to use outside of Moscow.
Cash is still king here, but debit cards are more and more used.