1 Rouble The Seywal (Whale)

Part of Russia's long-running "Red Book" wildlife series, this rouble was issued when the series had already accumulated enough entries to become a genuine collector reference for endangered Soviet and post-Soviet fauna. The Seyval — a baleen whale — was listed in the Russian Red Data Book following Soviet-era commercial whaling that decimated North Pacific and Arctic populations well into the 1970s, years after international moratoriums were being discussed elsewhere.

The CBR issued these at face value through Sberbank branches, though almost none entered circulation.