5 Lei Red Army Command

Issued under Soviet military authority during the August 1944 occupation of Romania, these notes were printed by Goznak in Moscow and introduced as occupation currency — technically denominated in Lei but backed by nothing within the Romanian monetary system. The Romanian National Bank had no control over their issuance, and the volume printed was never formally disclosed, a deliberate policy that effectively allowed the Red Army to requisition goods and services at Soviet expense to the Romanian economy.

The series is sometimes called "military lei" in collector literature. Romanian authorities repeatedly objected to their circulation; they were finally withdrawn in 1947 during the broader currency reform that preceded the proclamation of the Romanian People's Republic.