Russian Ruble (RUB)

About the Russian Ruble

The Russian Ruble (RUB) is the official currency of Russia. Its symbol is ₽, and one ruble divides into 100 kopecks. The currency is issued by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, known as the Bank of Russia, which under Article 75 of the Russian Constitution holds the exclusive right to issue currency and the mandate to protect the ruble and ensure its stability. ISO 4217 assigns it the alphabetic code RUB and the numeric code 643.

The Bank of Russia has operated a floating exchange-rate regime since November 2014, setting no official target and, in normal conditions, not intervening, though it may trade currency to support financial stability. After US sanctions suspended on-exchange dollar and euro trading on the Moscow Exchange on 12 June 2024, the Bank began calculating the official USD/RUB rate from over-the-counter data, formalised under Ordinance No. 6956-U of 2 December 2024. It also administers Russia's currency-control regime under Federal Law No. 173-FZ of 2003.

The Bank of Russia traces its origin to 1860, when Emperor Alexander II decreed the establishment of the State Bank of the Russian Empire. After the 1917 revolution the Bolsheviks took control of the bank, which was reorganised into the State Bank of the USSR (Gosbank) in 1923; when the USSR State Bank was liquidated in 1992, the Bank of Russia gained the sole right to issue money in the Russian Federation. The present-day ruble followed in 1998, when the Bank of Russia redenominated the currency at 1,000 old rubles to 1 new ruble.

In the Bank for International Settlements' Triennial Central Bank Survey, the standard measure of global foreign-exchange activity, the ruble's average daily OTC turnover fell from USD 86 billion (1.6% of global turnover) in April 2013 to USD 3 billion (0.0% share) in April 2025. The survey's April 2025 edition also excludes the ruble, alongside the Chinese renminbi, from its "emerging market economy" currency aggregate and no longer lists it among the individually charted currencies, whose smallest listed share, the South African rand's, was still 0.8%.

Cash in circulation comprises banknotes of 5, 10, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1,000, 2,000 and 5,000 rubles and coins from 1 kopeck to 10 rubles, all issued by the Bank of Russia. The 2,000-ruble note, in circulation since 12 October 2017, depicts the Russky Bridge at Vladivostok on the front and the Vostochny Cosmodrome on the reverse, while the 1,000-ruble note, circulating since 2001, shows a monument to Prince Yaroslav the Wise and the Yaroslavl Kremlin. The 10-ruble coin is struck in brass-plated steel, with an updated obverse design introduced in 2016.