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Russian currency is the rouble. There are 100 kopecks in the rouble, and these come in small coins that are worth one, 10 and 50 kopecks. Roubles are issued in coins in amounts of one, two and five roubles. Banknotes come in values of 10, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 roubles.

In 1998, there was the Russian financial crisis, also called "Rouble crisis". Triggered by the Asian financial crisis, world commodity prices dropped and Russia's heavy dependence on the export of raw materials led to a collapse. This led to a severe economic crisis and the rouble had to be re-evaluated. Since that time, the rouble been relatively stable.

Moscow is a major economic centre within Russia and within the global economic structure. It was home to the largest number of billionaires in the world in 2008. It had also been named the world's most expensive city for foreign employees for the third year in a row. Moscow is especially expensive when compared to the rest of the country. Despite these high standards, there is a significant amount of the population that does not maintain high salaries. Many people are on fixed wages and pensions that may not top 5000 roubles a month.