500 Roubles

Belarus redenominated its currency on 1 July 2016, replacing the old ruble at a rate of 10,000 to 1 — a conversion that wiped four zeros off every price tag and effectively acknowledged two decades of accumulated inflation following independence. This note belongs to that redenominated series, the first genuinely stable-feeling currency the country had issued since the Soviet collapse, though its exchange rate remained tightly managed by the Lukashenko government throughout.

Thomas De La Rue's involvement reflects a pattern common among post-Soviet states that lacked domestic high-security printing infrastructure capable of meeting modern standards. The security specification here is relatively modest for a high-denomination note.