500 Roubles

The 1997 series was Russia's first major post-hyperinflation redenomination issue — the 1998 reform stripped three zeros from the collapsing post-Soviet ruble, making this 500-rouble note the direct successor to the old 500,000-rouble denomination. Goznak had been producing Russian state paper since the imperial era and continued without interruption through the Soviet period, which means the institutional knowledge behind this note runs deeper than the government that issued it.

The 2001 modification (Pick 271A) introduced upgraded security features in response to increasingly sophisticated counterfeiting that had plagued the earlier 1997 printings almost immediately after release.