Arktikugol ("Arctic Coal") is a Soviet-era Russian state trust that has operated coal mines on Svalbard since 1931, exploiting Norway's obligation under the 1920 Spitsbergen Treaty to permit foreign commercial activity on the archipelago. The trust issued its own coinage for use at the company town of Barentsburg, where workers — almost entirely Russian and Ukrainian citizens — spent scrip that never needed to leave the settlement. These later issues from 2013 onward are widely understood to be souvenir-oriented rather than genuinely circulating, produced as collectibles for the small tourist trade passing through Barentsburg.
Arktikugol ("Arctic Coal") is a Soviet-era Russian state trust that has operated coal mines on Svalbard since 1931, exploiting Norway's obligation under the 1920 Spitsbergen Treaty to permit foreign commercial activity on the archipelago. The trust issued its own coinage for use at the company town of Barentsburg, where workers — almost entirely Russian and Ukrainian citizens — spent scrip that never needed to leave the settlement. These later issues from 2013 onward are widely understood to be souvenir-oriented rather than genuinely circulating, produced as collectibles for the small tourist trade passing through Barentsburg.