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RUB

Russian Ruble

Overview

The Russian Ruble (RUB), symbolised by ₽, is the official currency of the Russian Federation. One ruble is divided into 100 kopeks. The Bank of Russia, headquartered in Moscow, issues banknotes ranging from ₽5 to ₽5,000 and manages monetary policy.

The ruble is classified as a commodity currency: its exchange rate is strongly correlated with global oil and natural gas prices, which together account for a large share of Russian export revenues. When energy prices fall, the ruble typically weakens; when they rise, it strengthens.

In 2022, following broad international sanctions, Russia implemented capital controls and mandated that energy exports be settled in rubles, creating significant disruption in the currency's international convertibility. The RUB is no longer freely traded on many Western exchanges.

History

The ruble is one of the world's oldest currencies, with records dating back to the 13th century when it referred to a chopped-off piece of silver ingot. The word ruble derives from the Russian verb rubit', meaning "to chop."

Under Peter the Great in 1704, the ruble was formalised as a decimal currency — one of the first in the world — with 100 kopeks per ruble. The kopek itself dates to 1535, minted under Ivan the Terrible with the image of a horseman with a spear (kop'yo).

In the Soviet era, the ruble was a non-convertible currency at artificial fixed rates. After the USSR's dissolution in 1991, Russia faced hyperinflation and the ruble collapsed. In 1998, Russia defaulted on its domestic debt (GKO bonds), triggering a financial crisis; the ruble lost two-thirds of its value overnight and was redenominated: 1,000 old rubles = 1 new ruble.

The 2014 annexation of Crimea and resulting sanctions caused the ruble to halve in value. The 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine led to the most severe sanctions in Russian history, briefly crashing the ruble before capital controls and energy revenues stabilised it artificially.

Bank of Russia & Monetary Policy

The Bank of Russia (Банк России), established in 1990 as successor to the Soviet Gosbank, operates as the country's central bank and financial regulator. It adopted an inflation-targeting framework in 2014, targeting 4% CPI annually, and moved to a free-floating exchange rate in November 2014 after abandoning a managed band during the oil price crash.

The Bank of Russia's key rate (its benchmark policy rate) became a global focal point: it was raised to 20% in February 2022 immediately after the invasion-linked sanctions to prevent capital flight, then gradually cut back as controls took hold.

Russia's National Wealth Fund (NWF), a sovereign wealth fund built from oil revenues, acts as a fiscal buffer. Before 2022 sanctions, Russia also held the world's fourth-largest foreign exchange reserves (~$640 billion), of which roughly half was frozen by Western governments.

Key Facts

• ₽ symbol — the ruble sign was officially adopted in 2013, designed with a horizontal bar through the Р to prevent forgery and distinguish it from the letter.
• 1998 redenomination — 1,000 old rubles became 1 new ruble. Russia has redenominated its currency multiple times throughout history due to inflation.
• Kopek coins — though worth fractions of a cent, kopek coins (1, 5, 10, 50 kopeks) remain legal tender and are still minted.
• Ruble as regional currency — Belarus, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia also use ruble-based currencies; Belarus uses its own Belarusian ruble (BYN).
• Energy correlation — studies show USD/RUB tracks Brent crude prices with a correlation above 0.9 over multi-year periods.
• 2022 sanctions freeze — approximately $300 billion of Russian central bank reserves were frozen by the G7 and EU, a historically unprecedented action against a major economy.

See also: USD – United States Dollar · EUR – Euro · CNY – Chinese Yuan · Guide