Ukraine’s central bank on Friday introduced a new Hr. 2,000 banknote, the country’s highest-denomination bill, featuring Ukrainian poet and Soviet-era dissident Vasyl Stus.
The banknote is worth approximately $45. From Sept. 4, banks can obtain the notes from the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) and issue them to customers through their cash desks, the central bank said.
The front of the banknote features a portrait of Stus, one of Ukraine’s most prominent 20th-century poets and a vocal opponent of Soviet repression. The reverse depicts the philology faculty building of Donetsk National University, where he studied.
The NBU said the date chosen for the banknote’s introduction carries symbolic significance.
On Sept. 4, 1965, Stus joined Ukrainian dissidents Viacheslav Chornovil and Ivan Dziuba in staging what the central bank described as the first open public protest against political repression in the Soviet Union. The protest took place during the premiere of Sergei Parajanov’s film “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors.”
Exactly 20 years later, on Sept. 4, 1985, Stus died at the Perm-36 maximum-security prison camp in Russia.
The NBU said the decision to introduce the higher denomination reflected changes in Ukraine’s economy, including rising incomes and prices, the volume of cash in circulation and changes in how people use banknotes.
Since Ukraine introduced the Hr. 1,000 banknote seven years ago, the country’s average monthly salary has tripled, while prices have doubled according to the inflation index, the central bank said.
The new denomination is also expected to reduce the cost of transporting, processing and maintaining cash.
The NBU said issuing the Hr. 2,000 note did not amount to “printing money” and would not by itself increase inflation or cause fluctuations in the foreign exchange market.
The banknotes will enter circulation only in exchange for noncash funds or as replacements for worn notes of other denominations, according to the central bank.
The initial issue will consist of several million banknotes.
Until Friday, Ukraine’s highest-denomination banknote was the Hr. 1,000 bill, introduced in 2019.