From the early 1960s, the USSR began to develop active cooperation with socialist and developing countries. Thousands of Soviet specialists were sent abroad to work. The government faced the question of how to “shield” them from foreign currency.
A practical need arose to create a system in which citizens would not receive foreign currency in hand and would spend the funds they earned in foreign currency at home.
The most important parts of the new system were the Bank for Foreign Trade of the USSR (Vneshtorgbank of the USSR) and the all-Union association Vnesposyltorg. At the former, citizens were required to keep foreign currency in the form of “invalyutny rubles,” and to spend it through the network of Vnesposyltorg shops and firms.
It is important to note that, unlike other socialist countries, currency “substitutes” in the USSR were issued not for foreigners, but for the country’s own citizens.
A detachable check of Series D of the USSR Foreign Economic Bank (Vneshtorgbank) is a monetary obligation of the USSR Foreign Economic Bank (Vneshtorgbank) to pay the amount stated on the check. The checks were bound into checkbooks of the corresponding denomination. Detachable checks were intended for diplomatic staff to pay for goods and services in specialized stores. All checks were printed by GOZNAK.
The Bank for Foreign Trade of the USSR (Vneshtorgbank of the USSR) was established in 1924. The terms for maintaining accounts changed continually. The Bank’s clients included both legal entities and individuals.
For senior diplomatic personnel (from the rank of counsellor and above), there were separate Series “D” checks, accepted for payment on a par with cash foreign currency from foreigners in the parallel system of hard-currency shops—the “Beryozkas.”
Thus, in the USSR there were two completely separate (check-based and hard-currency) retail systems. Only foreigners, diplomats, and the top party nomenklatura could legally shop in hard-currency stores. Ordinary overseas workers had to use only the check-based “Beryozkas,” which in turn were closed to other Soviet citizens who had only Soviet rubles.