Russia 500 Rubles 1997

Continuing my series of 500 unit notes of many countries. This 500 ruble note is from Russia. I was in Moscow in 2007 leading the Brunei MOF team negotiating for a treaty with Russia. That was the third round - the first two were in Brunei. I have to admit then I was not expecting to go to Moscow. Most times, I am able to complete a negotiation by two rounds at most but Russia was slightly different. Anyway, it gave me and my team a chance to visit Moscow and not that many people had that opportunity.

When we arrived at the hotel, there was not much hassle at the airport, our passports were taken from us. Russia has a policy where every visitor had to be registered and you cannot go out without your passport (most important rule). So for the next few hours while the hotel was arranging for our registration with the local authorities, we were holed up at the hotel. As soon as we got our passports back, we went out to see what Moscow was like.

Anyway, their currency was just like any other currency and the 5 pieces that I have are used notes which I saved up from the trip. This one is 500 rubles and the largest note then was 5000 rubles. I didn't remember buying much in Russia other than a nice carved wooden chess set from Ukraine or something. Moscow was full of buildings - old ones. But the most memorable was being taken on this ship cruising the Moscow River and to see the famous Russian ballet show. A visit to Moscow hold special memories.