The ruble is the official currency of the Russian Federation. The smaller unit of Russian currency is the kopeck. 100 kopecks make up one ruble. The ruble consists of seven banknotes, with the smallest being 5 rubles and the largest 5000 rubles. The ruble also exists in coin form – 1, 2, 5, 10 rubles. Smaller coins are kopecks, which are worth 1, 5, 10, and 50 kopecks.
The word ruble comes from the Slavic word for "to cut" or "to chop," and the prototypes of current coins were silver casting strips, with their value indicated by the number of notches. However, the ruble began to be actively used in 1919 and was called the Soviet ruble at that time, which was issued only as a paper credit note.
The new, current ruble was issued only after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Soviet ruble remained, but in 1992 a new set of coins was issued, and a year later, a new set of Russian banknotes, which replaced the 1 Soviet ruble with 1 Russian ruble.
The Russian ruble was re-denominated in 1998 with a new code and was exchanged at a rate of 1 RUB = 1000 rubles. However, during a financial crisis lasting six months, the ruble lost about 70% of its value compared to the US dollar.
In the former USSR countries, there was a tradition associated with the color of money. A large portion of all denominations was produced with a red hue. In the Russian Empire, high-quality gold, from which coins were made, was called "red gold," indicating the value of the money.
