1 Rouble - Military Trade Cheque

Vneshtorgbank's military trade cheques were a parallel currency system operated through the Voenторг retail network — shops accessible only to Soviet military personnel serving abroad. The cheques circulated in place of hard foreign currency, allowing the state to control what soldiers could purchase and prevent exposure to Western goods or cash markets. The 1976 series replaced an earlier issue and introduced tighter sequential controls.

These rarely left the closed distribution chain, which is why surviving examples tend to show little genuine wear — not because they were preserved carefully, but because the redemption cycle was short and tightly monitored.