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1 Rouble
| Issuer | Bank for Foreign Trade of the USSR (Vneshtorgbank) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1973-1975 |
| Type | Exchange certificates |
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| Obverse description | Plain white note with all text in black letterpress. The denomination numeral "1" appears at upper right within a guilloche border panel, with "РУБЛЬ" below it. Two manuscript signatures of bank officials appear at centre-left above a note of acceptance clause. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Reverse printed as a mirror-image bleed-through of the obverse text on plain white paper, with no independent design elements. A light guilloche panel at upper left corresponds to the denomination box visible from the obverse side. |
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| Comments |
Vneshtorgbank's "certificate" roubles were a parallel currency — never intended to circulate alongside ordinary Soviet money. Foreigners arriving in the USSR were required to exchange hard currency at official rates into these certificates, which could then be spent at Beryozka ("birch tree") hard-currency shops closed to ordinary Soviet citizens. The system let the state capture foreign exchange while maintaining the fiction that the rouble was freely convertible.
The 1973–1975 series introduced a yellow stripe into the paper as a crude security feature. A separate blue-striped variant was issued simultaneously for use by socialist-bloc visitors, whose certificates were deliberately restricted to a narrower range of Beryozka outlets than those redeemable by Western tourists.