The ruble or rouble (Russian: рубль, romanized: rublʹ; symbol: ₽; ISO code: RUB) is the official currency of the Russian Federation. Banknotes and coins are issued by the Central Bank of Russia, which is Russia's monetary authority independent of all other government bodies.
The ruble is the second-oldest currency in continuous use and the first decimal currency. The ruble was the currency of the Russian Empire, which was replaced by the Soviet ruble (code: SUR, 810) during the Soviet Union. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, by 1992, the Soviet ruble was replaced in the Russian Federation by the Russian ruble (code: RUR, 810) at par. The Russian ruble then further continued to be used in 11 post-Soviet states, forming a "ruble zone" until 1993. The ruble was further redenominated with the new ISO 4217 code "RUB, 643" just preceding the 1998 financial crisis, and was exchanged at the rate of 1000 RUR = 1 RUB. Code "RUR, 810" was then excluded from both the ISO 4217 standard and the Russian currency classifier, but continues to be used for numbering bank accounts internally within Russia.
