The rouble (Russian rubl’) is the traditional Russian unit of currency. In the 13th and 14th centuries, the term first applied to 200 g silver ingots, which were standard weights and payment units. Roubles were not yet minted, but served as accounting units in the Russian princedoms.

In Moscow, the rouble was first used only as a large unit of account equivalent to 200 denga. The Russian currency reform of 1534, instigated by Yelena Glinskaya, mother of Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible), established a harmonizing relationship between the coinage of Moscow, Nov…