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Sanctions have made it difficult for Russian banks to receive fresh currency, leaving them—and their customers—with an oversupply of old-style dollars. Many foreign currency exchange offices refuse to accept bills issued years ago or exchange them at unfavorable rates. There are also difficulties in circulating such currency within the country. Meduza explains why it’s important to know the color of the banknotes you have in your possession and whether your savings can turn into paper due to “old age.”
What happened?
Russians are facing difficulties in accepting old-style cash dollars abroad, including in Turkey, Thailand, Egypt, the UAE, and other countries. “This is a sore subject,” Artur Muradian, vice president of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR), admitted to Rossiyskaya Gazeta. — In Before traveling abroad, tourists in Russia are sold old-style banknotes, and abroad they demand a new model.”
According to the reviews of travelers and local Russian-speaking residents, if they do not refuse to accept old banknotes abroad, they charge additional fees for accepting them or exchange them at a less favorable rate compared to new banknotes.
In Russia, banks have introduced fees for selecting new banknotes for customers and accepting old ones, and major players such as Sberbank, VTB, and Alfa-Bank have stopped exchanging old banknotes for new ones.
Old-style dollars can be exchanged using a double conversion: selling old banknotes for rubles and then buying new dollars. However, the exchange rate difference can be significant. Alternatively, you may have to pay a fee.
The State Duma believes that the citizens are to blame. “This is a problem for those who have acquired foreign currency and suddenly realized that it is not so easy to get rid of it,” Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the State Duma’s Financial Market Committee, said in February 2025. The Central Bank has not publicly commented on the behavior of Russian banks.
In Russia, there is no official ban on exchanging or accepting old-style US dollars.
What are old-style dollars?
Old-style dollars are banknotes issued before 2009. They differ in color: new banknotes are bluer (you can view a “colorful” analysis of banknotes from different years and denominations in the RBC article).
You can find out the year of issue of a banknote by looking at the number on it. The first letter of the serial number on a 1996 or later Federal Reserve note corresponds to the year of issue: for example, E for 2004 and J for 2009.
It is important that they can still be paid officially. All Federal Reserve banknotes issued since 1914 are equivalent, that is, there is no difference in terms of means of payment between new and old banknotes, as there is no “expiration date” for dollars.
But (!) The American legislation, which obliges to accept any banknotes since 1914, applies only to government agencies. However, private companies and/or individuals have the right to decide for themselves whether to accept payments in old banknotes or not.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, there are two trillion dollars worth of banknotes in circulation worldwide, ranging from one dollar to one hundred dollars. The issuance of larger denominations ($500, $1,000, $5,000, or $10,000) ceased in the 1970s, but they are still legal tender as they were issued after 1914.
Former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence Summers called in 2016 to withdraw the hundred-dollar banknotes for the sake of fighting crime and corruption. The 500-euro note (which was six times more valuable than the 100-dollar note at the time) was known as the “Bin Laden note,” he said. Large-denomination notes were indeed popular among criminals. According to the Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA), a British agency that combats organized crime, 90% of all 500-euro banknotes in the country are in the hands of criminals, as they are easier to hide and transport.
The design of American banknotes is constantly being modified to make them more difficult to counterfeit. According to the update schedule, the next redesign, for example, will be for the $10 bill in 2026.
So why aren’t my old dollars accepted?
Outside the United States, banks tend to hold newer bills because they have better security features. Russian banks are no exception, but due to the sanctions, they have become even more selective and anxious, forcing those who want to have dollars issued after 2009 to pay extra.
In the spring of 2022, the United States banned the import of cash dollars into Russia, and the flow of foreign currency cash that banks previously received through their channels almost completely dried up. Even those banks that are not formally sanctioned have a shortage of new cash dollars, as the U.S. ban on the import of dollars is broader than the sanctions against specific financial institutions.
Before the sanctions, Russian banks imported cash dollars on their own, purchasing them from foreign correspondent banks. In May 2020, Alexey Mamontov, President of the Moscow International Currency Association, explained to RBC that the Russian market’s demand for dollars and euros is met by 10-15 banks, primarily large state-owned and commercial banks with a wide network of branches in the regions, as well as subsidiaries of foreign banks.
After the imposition of sanctions, Russian banks no longer have foreign correspondent banks. In the spring of 2023, the Austrian Raiffeisenbank, which, according to an anonymous top bank executive, accounted for 40-50% of all payments between Russia and the rest of the world after the start of the war and the imposition of sanctions, closed its correspondent accounts with all Russian banks, with the exception of its subsidiary. In December 2023, US President Joe Biden authorized the US Treasury Department to impose secondary sanctions on foreign banks that indirectly facilitated the circumvention of sanctions against Russia. For example, they may be banned from opening correspondent accounts in the United States or restricted in their use, and their property in the United States may be blocked. In November 2024, even Gazprombank, which served as an important “payment gateway” for the entire Russian economy, was sanctioned by the United States.
As a result, according to the Central Bank’s data as of April 1, 2024, the correspondent relations of Russian banks with foreign banks in “toxic” currencies decreased by 17% compared to October 2023 and by 55% compared to the beginning of 2022.
Russia still has a limit on withdrawing cash from a foreign currency account or deposit that was opened before March 9, 2022, of no more than $10,000 or the equivalent amount in euros. The remaining funds can still be withdrawn in rubles. In March, the Central Bank extended the veto until September 2025.
Funds deposited after September 9, 2022, are issued at the bank’s exchange rate on the issue date. Banks are still prohibited from charging citizens a commission when issuing currency from accounts or deposits.
From Russia can still export no more than 10 thousand dollars (or other currency for this amount) per person.
And what should I do if my savings are in old banknotes?
If possible, stop keeping your cash savings in old banknotes.
If you already have banknotes in your possession, first of all, don’t despair: your dollars will not turn into “wrappers” in the foreseeable future.
Secondly, look for opportunities to exchange money at a favorable rate using fresh data from Telegram chats and forums for travelers and locals. For example, Aviasales maintains an updated article that collects data on the status of old and new banknotes in exchange offices across different countries. The situation may vary from one bank and exchange office to another, not only within a single country but also within a single city.
