Russia uses the rouble as its official currency. It is used throughout the Russian Federation and in addition it is used in the two republics namely Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Each rouble can be divided into 100 kopecks.
The rouble is denoted by the letters RUB. It used to be identified by the letters RUR, but this refers to the Russian rouble that was circulated prior to 1998.
Coins are issued in the denominations one 1, 5, 10, 50 kopecks and 1,2,5 rouble coins.
Notes are issued in the denominations of 10, 50, 100,500 and 1,000 roubles.
The rouble has been used in Russia as its main form of currency, for literally hundreds of years. It is thought that it has actually been used for a 500 year period. However, this has not been continual use.
Originally, the rouble was a silver coin. This was the standard against which it was measured in the 18th century. It then, for a short period was a bi-metal currency, which meant that it was assessed against both silver and gold.
Later it was changed to being assessed against gold, throughout the 19th century. This was changed when the First World War occurred and consequently the rouble suffered, because it failed dramatically in value.
It failed to recover after the war had ended and throughout the early part of the 1920s, the rouble experienced significant periods of hyper inflation.
A new rouble, known is the second rouble was introduced on 1st January 1922, but this was not very successful and it ended at the end of that year.
A third rouble was then introduced on 1st January 1923, but again this was not a resounding success and this only lasted until March 1924.
The fourth rouble did manage to survive a little longer, lasting from 1924 until 1947. This was a gold rouble, which has valued at 50,000 existing roubles.
The second and third roubles were only issued in the form of bank notes.
Such was the inflation rate, that it was pointless to issue coins, because they would simply become worthless, possibly overnight. So the decision was taken, they would only be issued in the form of bank notes.
However the success of the fourth rouble meant that it could actually have accompanying coins. This was seen as a major development for the Russian economy.
The fifth rouble came into being in 1947 as the Second World War had ended and the government was keen to reduce the amount of paper money, which was in circulation. Only bank notes were affected by this.
The sixth rouble was introduced in 1961 and this lasted until the end of December 1997.
However, during the time of the sixth rouble the Soviet Union broke up in 1991 and became the Russian Federation.
The rouble continued to be its main currency. However, severe inflation was once again to hit the economy and the rouble.
This resulted in the 7th rouble being introduced at the beginning of 1998. This rouble is still in circulation today. Interestingly, one new rouble was the equivalent of 1000 of the previous roubles.
During 2007, various rumours were spread that the rouble was once more to be denominated. The government has strenuously denied this, but many people in Russia are convinced that this will actually happen.
Acquiring Russian roubles is not too difficult. There are a number of ways for you to be able to get money in Russia.
ATM machines do exist in Russia and they are particularly common in Moscow, as well as St Petersburg. They are also located in many of the larger towns, or cities, but you may find that they will not accept foreign cards.
In a small town or village, you will simply find that they don't exist.
But if you are travelling to a major city, then you should be able to use an ATM machine.
Most ATM machines in Russia will actually cap withdrawals to around £500 per day.
It is generally not a good idea to take travellers cheques into Russia, since you may experience significant problems in getting them cashed.
If you are only coming for a few days, then it may be worth just taking in some cash with you and changing it whilst in Russia. There are lots of exchange offices, where you will be able to change money and due to the fact that there are so many, you will usually find that rates can be quite competitive.
You can sometimes use US dollars to pay for a taxi ride, or even paying for something at a kiosk.
If you are approached by somebody who wants to change some money for you, it is better to walk away. A great many scams go on, which basically involves ripping off a tourist who is naive enough to exchange money in this way.
One interesting aspect of changing money in Russia, is that you will find it very easy to do if you have very clean banknotes. They don't like them, if they are the old and tatty.
Russia, it is true, is not the safest country to visit in the world, but conversely, it is not the most dangerous. You should obviously be careful and ensure that you keep an eye on your valuables at all times. Pickpockets do target travellers and to some extent see them as easy money.
Sometimes, petty criminals do try to engage you in some kind of scam. So, just be aware and vigilant at all times.
One of the problems in Russia is that you have to carry identification with you at all times. This means that you should really carry your passport and your visa with you at all times. Unfortunately this makes you particularly vulnerable if you are pickpocketed, because potentially you have lost everything. For this reason alone it is worth taking precautions and being exceptionally careful, whenever you are in public.
When you are in Russia, you will find that it offers relatively good value for money. It is not as cheap as it was a few years ago, but prices are still extremely competitive.
The major cities such as St Petersburg and Moscow are undoubtedly much more expensive than some of the smaller towns and villages, but because these are the main tourist destinations in Russia, it is almost impossible to go to Russia and not to visit these two cities.
Both have an incredible amount to offer visitors and with its extremely modern and comprehensive public transport system, Moscow is simply a city that is unlike any other and cannot be missed off any trip to Russia.
Even Ikea has reached Moscow and there are lots of museums, galleries and places of interest to visit. In addition, the architecture is amazing. The Red Square, has been seen in the West, in photos and films for many years and actually standing in Red Square has an almost surreal feel to it.
Interestingly, although there is a widespread perception that Moscow is an unsafe city, it is actually safer than St Petersburg and has a much lower crime rate.
St Petersburg is really the home to all things cultural within Russia and it is a very beautiful city. In its time it has been known as Petrograd as well as Leningrad. Some of the buildings and the scenes in St Petersburg, will be instantly recognisable, as they have featured in a great many films, particularly over the last 20 years or so.
One of the most beautiful buildings in St Petersburg is the Winter Palace. This is truly an amazing combination of the palace and a museum and it has some spectacular art works, including some by Da Vinci, Michelangelo as well as Rembrandt. This is certainly one destination that you must include when you are in St Petersburg. You can even hire a tour guide, just to make sure that you can really get to grips with all the amazing paintings and understand them just that little bit more.
Then after you have sampled the delights of these cities, it is well worth getting off the tourist trail and finding some less busy areas to experience the side of Russia that is much less developed and sophisticated. These present an altogether different view of Russia and so it is worth making the effort to see different areas and different regions within the Russian Federation.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has experienced a tremendous amount of change and all that change has happened relatively recently. As a result, Russia is still getting to grips with being a country that has emerged from communism and is now finding her own place within the world and the world's stage.
This gives Russia a strange atmosphere as if it isn't quite sure where it belongs and how it will move forward to a new place. Although many people have embraced the new capitalist regime, there are still some who hanker after the days of communism, despite the restrictions that the regime brought with it.
In recent years Russia has experienced a rather negative image, of being a country that is in the grip of the Russian mafia, but the gangland image associated with Russia, does not portray an accurate reflection of this very vast and indeed, huge, country.
Due to the fact that it is the biggest country in the world, Russia has a tremendous amount of regional differences, which really shape this country and makes it quite diverse and to a large extent, quite a different country from all of its neighbours, including Europe.
The cities are all very technologically advanced and yet in the rural areas, life is still very simple, uncomplicated and, to a large extent, quite basic.
The contrast between these different lifestyles is often quite stark and is culturally extremely interesting.
How Russia will move forward to embrace the new challenges associated with countries such as India and China becoming ever more powerful and a united Europe emerging, no one yet knows. However, it is likely that to Russia will embrace these new challenges in her own very unique and strangely charismatic style.