1000 Pounds

Syria's 1000 Pounds had already been issued in earlier series, but the 2013 printing is notable for its timing: the country was deep into civil war, with large portions of the banking system functionally paralyzed and currency demand shifting erratically between government-held and opposition-held territory. Printing continued abroad regardless.

Goznak's involvement here reflects a longer relationship between Syrian and Russian state institutions — not a wartime improvisation. Russian banknote production for Syria predates the conflict by decades. By 2013, that arrangement carried obvious geopolitical weight.