What Are the Types of Money in Russia?

Russian rublesfour thousand rubles image by Yulaki Khvenchuk from Fotolia.com

The Russian ruble is the official currency of the Russian Federation. It is one of the world's oldest currencies. The ruble has been used in Russia from the time of the czars, and has remained the official currency throughout many political changes. The ruble is also used in several countries from the former Soviet Union.

Currency

The official currency in Russia is the Russian ruble. The ruble is divided into kopecks, and there are 100 kopecks in one ruble. The symbol for the Russian ruble is "R," which is equivalent to the "$" symbol used for the U.S. dollar.

Banknotes in Russia come in several denominations: five, 10, 50, 100, 500, 1,000, and 5,000 rubles. Each note is characterized by a colored background, with images on the front and back of places in Russia, such as St. Sofia's Cathedral, the fortress wall of the Novgorod Kremlin, the dam at the Krasnoyarsk Hydro Power Plant, and others. The security on each bill also differs, but includes watermarks, security threads and color shifting ink.

Russian coins also come in many denominations of rubles as well as kopecks. Ruble coins come in one, two and five rubles. The coins are made from a copper-nickel alloy. Each coin is round, with a picture of a two-headed eagle and the date on one side and the value of the coin on the other side. Kopeck coins come in one, five, 10 and 20 kopecks. These coins are also round. The one and five kopeck coins have smooth edges and are made from copper-nickel and copper-nickel-steel alloys; the 10 and 50 kopeck coins have milled edges and are made from a copper-zinc alloy. Each kopeck coin has an image of St. George on one side and the value on the other.