Makhnovist ruble

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Makhnovist ruble

During Ukraine’s War of Independence, the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine operated in the Makhnovshchina and used a form of Makhnovist ruble. They did not print new banknotes themselves; instead, many existing Don rubles from the Rostov Don Republic’s bank were overprinted. Overprints varied: some raised the denomination, while others added the Insurgent Army’s name or campaign text. Some accounts say genuine notes were issued, but others view them as counterfeit or mythical. The Ukrainian army noted notes valued at 1,000 karbovanets, and a journalist described messages on the notes about immunity for forgery. One alleged note supposedly said, “The smart money is on Makhno.” Because of wartime chaos, many alternative currencies circulated, and some historians doubt the existence of Makhnovist currency. Nestor Makhno’s wife Halyna Kuzmenko dismissed the stories as legends.