10 Chervontsev 70 Years of Liberation of Voronezh

Arktikugol Trust, the Soviet-era coal mining conglomerate that has operated on Svalbard since 1931, issues its own coinage for use within the Russian settlements of Barentsburg and Pyramiden — a commercial necessity born from Norwegian currency restrictions in the archipelago. These pieces are legal tender nowhere but function as genuine scrip within a community that remains, in practice, a Soviet administrative holdover on Norwegian soil. The 70th anniversary of the liberation of Voronezh — January 25, 1943, when Soviet forces expelled German troops after 212 days of occupation — is a distinctly mainland Russian commemoration finding its way onto Arctic mining camp currency.