From the early 1960s, the USSR began to develop active cooperation with socialist and developing countries. Thousands of Soviet specialists were sent on assignments to work abroad. The government faced the question of how to "protect" them from foreign currency.
A practical need arose to create a system in which citizens would not receive foreign currency in their hands and would spend the funds earned in foreign currency at home.
The most important parts of the new system were the USSR Bank for Foreign Trade (Vneshtorgbank of the USSR) and the all-Union association Vnesposyltorg. In the former, citizens were required to keep foreign currency in the form of "invalyutny rubles", and to spend it through the network of Vnesposyltorg stores and firms.
It is important to note that, unlike other socialist countries, "substitutes" for currency in the USSR were issued not for foreigners, but for its own citizens.
A detachable cruise cheque of Vneshekonombank (Vneshtorgbank) of the USSR is a monetary obligation of Vneshekonombank (Vneshtorgbank) of the USSR to pay the amount specified on the cheque. The cheques were bound into chequebooks of the corresponding denomination. Detachable cheques were intended for settlements by certain categories of citizens for goods and services on Soviet cruise ships operating on international routes. All cheques were printed by Goznak.