(Redirected from
Soviet ruble)
The ruble or rouble (Russian: рубль, plural рубли; see note on spelling below) is the name of the currencies of the Russian Federation and Belarus (and formerly, of the Soviet Union and the Russian Empire).
One rouble is divided into 100 kopeks, kopecks, or copecks (Russian: копейка, plural копейки).
The ISO 4217 currency code for the Russian ruble is RUB; the former code, RUR, refers to the Russian ruble prior to the 1998 denomination (1RUB=1,000RUR).
Etymology
Origin
The word "ruble" is derived from the Russian verb рубить, rubit, i.e., to chop. Historically, "ruble" was a piece of a certain weight chopped off a silver ingot (grivna), hence the name. It was the Russian equivalent of the mark, a measurement of weight for silver and gold used in medieval western Europe.
In Russian, a folk name for "ruble", tselkovyi (целковый, wholesome), is known, which is a shortening of the "целковый рубль" ("tselkovyi ruble"), i.e. a wholesome, uncut ruble.
The word kopek, kopeck or copeck (kopeyka) derives from the Russian kop'yo (копьё) – a spear. The first kopek coins, minted by Muscovy after the capture of Novgorod in 1478, carried the Moscow coat of arms with Saint George slaying a dragon with a spear. The modern Russian kopeck also carries this image.
English spelling
Both the spellings "ruble" and "rouble" are used in English. The form "rouble" is preferred by the Oxford English Dictionary, but the earliest uses it records in English were the now completely obsolete "robble", followed by "ruble". The form "rouble" probably derives from the transliteration into French used among the Tsarist aristocracy. There is some tendency for North American authors to use "ruble" and other English speakers to use "rouble", and also some tendency for older sources to use "rouble" and more recent ones to use "ruble", but neither tendency is absolute. An accurate, but ungainly, English transliteration is rubl'.
Plurals in Russian
The Russian plurals that you may see on the actual currency will be modified according to Russian grammar. Numbers 1, 21, 31 etc. will be followed by singular nominative рубль, копейка. Numbers 2-4, 22-24, 33-34 etc. will be followed by singular genitive рубля, копейки. Numbers 5-20, 25-30, 35-40 etc. will be followed by plural genitive рублей, копеек.
Traditional denominations
The ruble had a unique sequence of denominations: 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 50 kopeks, and 1, 3, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 rubles. This tradition can be traced back to Imperial time. The cut off points between coins and banknotes vary from time to time. In addition, the color theme of the banknote portion of this lineup remained consistent for more than a century:
- 1 ruble: brown
- 3 rubles: green
- 5 rubles: blue
- 10 rubles: red
- 25 rubles: lilac
- 50 rubles: green
- 100 rubles: brown
History
The denominations that are multiples of 3 began to appear in 1828, around the time of the fourth partition of Poland. In order to integrate the ruble into Poland, coins were denominated in both Russia ruble and in Polish złoty. The fixed exchange rate at that time was 0.15 ruble = 1 złoty, therefore a coin of 10 złotych was also 1.5 ruble.
The word złotych eventually disappear (until Poland regained its sovereignty).
This is a rather difficult consistency to maintain given the undesirable inflations and unstable politics that happened in the 20th century. This tradition finally came to an end with the fall of the Soviet Union.
See also Currency of Three
History
First Ruble, - December 31 1921
The ruble has been the Russian unit of currency for about 500 years. From 1710, the ruble has been divided into 100 kopek.
The amount of precious metal in a ruble varied over time. In a 1704 currency reform, Peter I standardized the ruble to 28 grams of silver. While ruble coins were silver, there were higher denominations minted of gold and platinum. 1 ruble was equal to 18 grams of silver for most of the time.
The ruble became a paper currency as a result of the First World War, with old coins having a variable value relative to the paper money. The ruble was revalued three times in three years.
Second Ruble, January 1 1922 - December 31 1922
The 1922 redenomination was at a rate of 1 "new" ruble for 10,000 "old" rubles. Only banknotes were issued, in denominations of 1 ruble to 10,000 rubles
Third Ruble, January 1 1923 - March 6 1924
The 1923 redenomination was at a rate of 100 to 1. Again, only paper money was issued, ranging from 10 kopek to 25,000 rubles. In early 1924, just before the next redenomination, the first paper money was issued in the name of the USSR featuring the state emblem with 6 bands around the wheat, representing the then 6 constituent republics of the Union: Russian SFSR, Transcaucasian SFSR, Ukrainian SSR, Byelorussian SSR, Turkmen SSR, and Uzbek SSR. They were 10,000 rubles, 15,000 rubles, and 25,000 rubles.
Fourth (Gold) Ruble, March 7 1924 - 1947
The 1924 redenomination introduced the "gold" ruble at a value of 50,000 rubles of the 1923 issue. This reform also saw the introduction of the chervonets (червонец), worth 10 rubles. Coins began to be issued again in 1924, whilst paper money was issued in rubles for values below 10 rubles and in chervonets for higher denominations. Two further redenominations occurred in 1947 and 1961.
Fifth Ruble, 1947 - 1961
Following World War Two, the Soviet government implemented a confiscatory redenomination of the currency to reduce the amount of money in circulation. This only affected the paper money. Old rubles were revalued at one tenth of their face value.
Sixth Ruble, 1961 - December 31 1997
1961 Soviet Union 10 roubles bill
The 1961 redenomination was a repeat of the 1947 reform, with the same terms applying. The Soviet ruble of 1961 was formally equal to 0.987412 g of gold, but the exchange for gold was never available to the general public. The ruble is no longer linked to a gold standard. 5 series had been issued:
Following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, the ruble remained the currency of the Russian Federation. During the period of high inflation of the early 1990s, the ruble was significantly devalued.
5000 ruble, 10000 ruble notes, and coins of the 1992 series were the first issued in the name of Russia, instead of the USSR.
Seventh Ruble, January 1 1998 -
The ruble was rebased on January 1, 1998, with one new ruble equaling 1,000 old rubles. Rebasing did not solve fundamental economic problems faced by the Russian economy at the time, and the currency was devalued in August 1998 following the Asian financial crisis. The ruble lost 70% of its value against the U.S. Dollar in the 6 months following August 1998.
See also Russian financial crisis.
All Russian paper money is currently printed at the state-owned factory Goznak in Moscow, which was organized on June 6, 1919 and has continued to operate ever since. Coins are minted in the Monetny Dvor mint in St. Petersburg that has operated since 1724 and in Moscow.
In November of 2004, the authorities of Dimitrovgrad (Ulyanovsk Oblast) erected a five-meter monument to the ruble.
Nicknames
In the 19 and 20th centuries, the coins of kopeck denominations had individual names: 2 kop.= dvushka, 3 kop.= altyn (mostly obsolete by the 1960s), 5 kop.= pyatak, 10 kop.= grivennik, 15 kop. = pyatialtynny (5 altyn; the usage lived longer than "altyn"), 20 kop. = dvugrivenny (2 grivenniks), 50 kop. = poltina or poltinnik.
The amount of 10 rubles (in either bill or coin) is sometimes informally referred to as a chervonets. Historically, it was the name for the first Russian 3-ruble gold coin issued for general circulation in 1701. The current meaning comes from Soviet golden chervonets (советский золотой червонец) issued in 1923 that was equivalent to the pre-revolution 10 gold rubles.
All these names are obsolete. Nowadays the practice of using old kopeck coin names for amounts of rubles has very common usage. In modern Russian slang only these names are used:
- Pyatyorka (пятёрка) for 5 roubles bill
- Chirik (чирик) simplified "chervonets" for 10 roubles bill
- Poltinnik (полтинник) for 50 roubles bill
- Pyatikhatka ('пятихатка) for 500 roubles bill. Originally pyatikatka (пятикатка). The term is derived from "пять кать" (five Catherines). Katya (катя, Catherina) was a slang name for 100 roubles bill in tsarist Russia, as the bill had a picture of Catherine II on it. Катя for a 100 roubles bill is hardly ever used now, but the derivative, пятикатка, for 500 roubles has lived till nowadays. A misspelled variant пятихатка became the most widely used due to the phonetics of the Russian language.
- Shtuka (штука, the thing) for 1000 roubles bill and generally amount of 1000 roubles
Coins
Currently, the ruble coins exist in the following denominations:
1 and 5 kopek coins are rarely used. Note that these coins began being issued in 1998 despite the fact the some of them may bear the mint year "1997".
Banknotes
Since the break up of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russian ruble banknotes and coins have been notable for their lack of portraits, which traditionally were included under both the Tsarist and Communist regimes. With the issue of the 500 ruble note depicting a statue of Peter I, and then the 1000 ruble note depicting a statue of Yaroslav the lack of recognizable faces on the currency has been partially alleviated.
| 1997 Series [2] |
| Image Front |
Image Back |
Denomination |
Dimensions |
Dominant Color |
Obverse |
Reverse |
Printed Date |
Issued Date |
Watermark |
 |
 |
5 rubles1 |
137 x 61 mm |
Green |
St. Sofia's Cathedral in Novgorod |
Fortress wall of the Novgorod Kremlin |
1997 |
January 1, 1998 |
"5", St. Sofia's Cathedral in Novgorod |
 |
 |
10 rubles |
150 x 65 mm |
Dark-green and dark-brown |
Bridge across Yenisei River in Krasnoyarsk, Chapel |
Krasnoyarsk hydroelectric plant |
January 1, 1998
20012, 20043 |
"10", Chapel |
 |
 |
50 rubles |
Blue |
Sculpture at the foot of the Rostral Column on background of Petropavlosk Fortress in Saint Petersburg |
Former stock exchange building |
"50", Peter and Paul Cathedral |
 |
 |
100 rubles |
Brown-green |
Sculpture on the portico of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow |
The Bolshoi Theatre |
"100", The Bolshoi Theatre |
 |
 |
500 rubles |
Violet-blue |
Monument to Peter the Great, sailing ship and sea terminal in Arkhangelsk |
Solovetsky Monastery |
"500", Peter the Great |
 |
 |
1000 rubles |
157 x 69 mm |
Blue-green |
Monument to Yaroslav I the Wise and chapel of the Yaroslavl kremlin |
Church of Precursor in Yaroslavl |
2000, 20043 |
"1000", Monument to Yaroslav I the Wise |
Note
- 5 ruble note is uncommon, being replaced by 5-rouble coin
- Banknotes of the 2001 revision bear the fine print "модификация 2001г." meaning "modification of year 2001" on the left watermark area.
- Banknotes of the 2004 revision also bear the similar fine print. But more importantly, new security features have been added. They include (but not limited to):
-
- Moiré pattern: The area appears to be one color from one angle, stripes from another angle.
- Wider metallic thread
- Microperforation (100 rubles and above): Denomination numeral formed by dots (small perforated holes in the paper)
- Color shifting ink (500 rubles and above): The emblem of the Bank of Russia for 500 rubles, and the city emblem of Yaroslavl for 1000 rubles.
In 2006, 5000 rubles banknotes will be released featuring the city of Khabarovsk.
There is now a 10 rubles coin (uncommon, but existing).
Ruble in the Soviet Union
It has been suggested that this section be
split into a new article entitled
Soviet Ruble. (
Discuss)
The Soviet currency had its own name in all languages of the Soviet Union, sometimes quite different from its Russian designation. All banknotes had the currency name and their nominal printed in the official languages of every Soviet Republic. This naming is preserved in modern Russia; for example: Tatar for ruble and kopek are sum and tien. The current names of several currencies of Central Asia are simply the local names of the ruble.
The name of the currency in the official languages of the 15 republics, in the order they appeared in the banknotes:
Note that the script for Uzbek, Azerbaijani, Moldavian, and Turkmen have switched from Cyrillic to Latin some time around the breakup of the Soviet Union.
Replacement Currencies in the Former Soviet Union
It has been suggested that this section be
split into a new article entitled
Soviet Ruble. (
Discuss)
Shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, local currencies were introduced in the newly independent states. Most of the new economies were weak and hence all of the currencies have undergone significant reforms since launch that included change of names and denominations. For the details on individual currencies developments and current state of affairs please see the corresponding articles.
(*) In Ukraine Hryvnia was introduced in 1996.
Current RUB exchange rates
On last update (March 13, 2006), the rate was
1 USD = 28.04 rubles
1 euro = 33.424 rubles
1 CNY = 3.48453 rubles
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See also
Reference
External links
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