Money

Official Russian currency is Ruble (Rub). One Ruble consists of 100 Kopecks. International currency code for Ruble is RUR. There are paper money and coins.

Bank Notes

	5 Rubles
	10 Rubles
	50 Rubles
	100 Rubles
	500 Rubles
	1000 Rubles

Coins

There are four kinds of kopecks (kop) and three kinds of Rubles.

1 Kop.	5 Kop.	10 Kop.	50 Kop.	1 Ruble	2 Rubles	5 Rubles

But the really respectable currency in Russia is US Dollar. There is a lot of places (banks, exchange offices) where you can easily exchange US Dollars to Rubles and Back. Most Russians keep their savings in US Dollars to protect them from inflation.

Second most spread foreign currency is Euro. You also can easily exchange it into Rubles or Dollars.

If You go to St-Petersburg, it would be better to take your credit card. There are a lot of bank machines in the city (in every bank, big stores, hotels and in almost all metro stations). They accept the most well-known credit cards like Visa, Master Card and other. But most of them will give you, probably, only Russian Rubles.

Anyway, it would be better to have some rubles with you all the time. If you decided to keep all your cash in your wallet (or in the pocket) — try hide it deeper under your closes. Put only a small sum of money in the pockets, where you (and, remember, not only you) can easily access them if you need (to pay to taxi driver, to make phone call, to buy something simple). If you keep with yourself a big sum of money, do not keep all the money in one place — distribute (separate) it between several pockets.

St-Petersburg is a big city. As other big cities here there are some people, who do not want to earn money honestly, they prefer to to take money from other people — to steal. Be careful, especially in overcrowded public places.

Do not forget, you can exchange currency only in the places, licensed for this kind of business. You will probably need to show your passport (not driving license) to the cashier (to have your passport with yourself all the time is a good idea, while you are in Russia). To buy or to sell foreign currency to people without license is illegal. If you do not want to get in trouble — exchange currency only in specially designated (and licensed) places (banks, exchange offices).

Banks and exchange offices do not accept foreign coins — only bank notes. They prefer new and good looking bank notes. If you try to exchange old US Dollars, you may experience difficulties. Some (probably most) banks and exchange offices may refuse to accept them.