Dear bobby75,
The price tag shows two prices: "297.00 py6" is the amount in Rubles,
the official Russian currency ("???" = RUB, which stands for Ruble).
With the exchange rate of 26 March 2004, 297.00 Rubles are 10.42471 US
Dollars.
The second price, "9.00 ?.?.", is the amount in "uslovniye edinitsy"
or "conventional units". Traditionally, this meant "US Dollars"; the
unofficial UE-unit was used because in earlier decades it was less
catchy for shopkeepers than openly using dollar prices. Today,
however, prices in UE usually indicate the amount in Euros. Since it
is an unofficial unit, there are no strict ties to official exchange
rates. This is also shown by the fact that 297.00 Rubles are, using
the current exchange rate, 8.58991 Euros and not 9.00 Euros.
Sources:
Oanda.com: Currency Converter
http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic
The St. Petersburg Times: 'Conventional Unit' Tied to Euro, Ruble
http://www.sptimes.ru/archive/times/944/news/b_11694.htm
CDI Russia Weekly: When Is Russia in Europe?
http://www.cdi.org/russia/295-8.cfm
Search terms used:
russian rubles
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=russian+rubles&btnG=Google+Suche
"9.00 ?.?"
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=%229.00+%D1%83.%D0%B5%22&btnG=Google+Suche
russian "? ?"
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=russian+%22%D1%83+%D0%B5%22&btnG=Google+Suche
russia prices "u e"
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=russia+prices+%22u+e%22&btnG=Google+Suche
Hope this answers your question!
Regards,
Scriptor |
