A great many provisionals appeared in modern Russia in the early 1990s as well. By liberalizing prices, the government of T. Gaidar set Russia’s economy adrift into free-market conditions. As a result, for several years hyperinflation ruled the roost in the country. All of this affected postal operations too. In 1992–1993 alone, postal rates were changed six times. The rapid rise in postal tariffs forced post offices across the country to resort to issuing various kinds of provisionals. At first, overprints were made on USSR postage stamps that remained in stock, and revaluation handstamps were applied to postal stationery. As supplies of stamps and postal stationery ran out, issues of surrogate postage-payment signs began to appear. This happened everywhere across the country. As always, alongside postal provisionals there also appeared various philatelic issues that had nothing whatsoever to do with the postal service.
Revaluation 100 on 1 Kopeck 1992.
Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, Ukraine.
