10 Kopecks

Vneshtorgbank's kopeck-denomination certificates were not general-circulation money. They were issued exclusively for use in Beryozka shops — the hard-currency retail network that allowed the Soviet state to recapture foreign exchange from citizens who received remittances or earned convertible currency abroad. Soviet citizens could not legally hold foreign currency, so these certificates served as the permissible substitute, pegged notionally to the ruble but carrying genuine purchasing power that ordinary rubles did not.

The 10-kopeck denomination was the smallest in the series, used primarily as change within the Beryozka system. Notes from the earlier part of the issue range carry a yellow stripe; later issues are distinguished by a dark blue strip along one edge — a security modification introduced to combat forgery within the closed retail network.