25 Roubles

Arktikugol Trust operated the Soviet coal mines on Svalbard — a Norwegian archipelago where the USSR maintained mining rights under the 1920 Spitsbergen Treaty. Because Svalbard sits outside Soviet territory, ordinary rubles had no practical role there; the Trust instead issued its own scrip, redeemable only at company stores and facilities within the settlement of Barentsburg. Workers received wages partly in this restricted currency, which effectively tied purchasing power to the employer and limited hard currency outflows.

The 1979 series replaced earlier Arktikugol issues as the mining operation expanded. Scrip of this kind rarely circulated outside the settlement — most surviving notes were brought back to the mainland by departing workers as curiosities.