Kremlin against placement of Russian leaders’ portraits on banknotes

Author: Inga Friedelhaus Section: Major Events of the Month

Issue: August 2011, Vol. 6, No. 7

Tags: Medvedev

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Banknotes Depersonalization 

Addressing a meeting of historians in mid-July, President Dmitry Medvedev said new post-Soviet Russia ought not to return to the practice of placing pictures of Russian leaders on the country’s banknotes. “It is absolutely normal to place monuments and remarkable places on money, but we don’t have to return to the practice of placing statesmen’s photos on them.” The placement of leaders’ portraits on money is a long-standing practice in Russia, regardless of the system of governance. For example, Russian emperors were depicted on tsarist Russia’s money, while the leader of the world proletariat, Vladimir Lenin, graced Soviet banknotes.