The Russian authorities are going through the introduction of the ruble to make the Kherson region fully pro-Russian.
New pro-Russian authorities in Moscow-held Ukraine’s Kherson region on Monday made the Russian currency, the ruble, the official currency alongside the Ukrainian hryvnia. “The region will become a dual currency zone: the ruble will circulate in the same way as the hryvnia. Businesses and entrepreneurs can display prices in both currencies,” announced the pro-Russian civil and military administration of this region in southern Ukraine.
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“The course costs two rubles for one hryvnia,” she continued in a statement on her Telegram account. The administration adds that the first branch of a Russian bank will open “very soon” in Kherson, the capital of the region, and that “all entrepreneurs who wish to do so” will be able to open an account there.
In late April, a local official said the ruble and hryvnia could circulate during a transitional period before a full conversion to the Russian currency, a possibility not mentioned by the pro-Russian regional administration on Monday. However, local and Russian officials have raised the possibility that the entire region will eventually become part of Russia.
The city of Kherson, near Crimea annexed by Moscow in 2014, was the first major city the Russians captured on March 3 after beginning their March 24 offensive against Ukraine. February.
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