1.0 Russian Ruble equals
0.013 US Dollar
I can't speak for the buying power but the currency exchange rate was .7135 Rubles to a USD. So 800 rb would have been the same as about $1121 in 1986, or $2613 in 2019 dollars. I'm sure someone can give a better idea of buying power, but this is what I got from a us government report on foreign currencies in March of 1986, and an inflation calculator for USD. Answer from inmusicutrust on reddit.com
Currency Rate Today
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1986 Russian Rubles (RUB) to US Dollars (USD) - Currency Converter
As of 17:00PM UTC today, one thousand nine hundred eighty-six russian rubles equals $25.36 (twenty-five us dollars 36 cents). We use the mid-market rate for RUB to USD conversion.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/chernobyl › what was the ruble to us dollar conversion rate in 1986?
r/chernobyl on Reddit: What was the ruble to US dollar conversion rate in 1986?
May 29, 2019 -
I want to know approximately how much those soldier's got with their 800 ruble bonus
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I can't speak for the buying power but the currency exchange rate was .7135 Rubles to a USD. So 800 rb would have been the same as about $1121 in 1986, or $2613 in 2019 dollars. I'm sure someone can give a better idea of buying power, but this is what I got from a us government report on foreign currencies in March of 1986, and an inflation calculator for USD.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-1uKz3W6Ic This is a great documentary movie to watch. At 1:08:40, Gorbachev, mentions the conversion rate in 1986 was 1 Rubel per USD. I'm more inclined to believe him for some reason since google just gives me conflicting info based on the site
Russia Trek
russiatrek.org › ask-question › currency
Questions and answers from our Russian expert about currency
Before the fall of the Soviet Ruble. Expert's answer: In 1990, the official exchange rate was 0.6 Soviet rubles to 1 USD. However, this meant little in real life, since in the USSR it was impossible to buy or sell foreign currency in a bank. On the black market, the cost of 1 USD was about ...
MConvert
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1986 RUB to USD or convert 1986 Russian Ruble in US Dollar
How much is 1986 Russian Ruble in US Dollar? - 1986 RUB to USD (1986 Russian Ruble to US Dollar) is 24.69 USD with exchange rate 0.0124 for today. For your convenience Mconvert has online Russian Ruble to US Dollar (RUB vs USD) history chart ...
LikeForex
likeforex.com › currency-converter › russian-ruble-rub_usd-us-dollar.htm › 1986
1986 Russian Ruble to US Dollar, 1986 RUB to USD Currency Converter
Real time exchange rates, highly accurate. 1986 Russian Ruble to US Dollar, 1986 RUB to USD Currency Converter
Major Exchange Rates
majorexchangerates.com › rub › 1986-usd.html
1986 RUB to USD - Russian Ruble(RUB) to US Dollar(USD) - Foreign Currency Exchange Rates
1986 RUB = 25.6704 USD1986 USD = 153647.6844 RUBExchange Rates Updated : December 9, 2025
Quora
quora.com › How-much-was-a-ruble-worth-in-1986
How much was a ruble worth in 1986? - Quora
Answer (1 of 9): If we take as a yardstick of parity the average price of a loaf of bread, one ruble back in 1986 was equivalent to $5.30. This is close to $6.00 that as I’ve heard was an approximate rate a Russian corporation would need to ...
Currency.Wiki
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1986 RUB to USD — Convert Russian Rubles to US Dollars (Live) | Currency.Wiki
3 weeks ago - As of December 23, 2025, at 3:28 PM UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), 1986 Russian Rubles (RUB) equals 25.46 US Dollars (USD).
FX Exchange
fx-exchange.com › rub › usd-1986-exchange-rates.html
1986(RUB) Russian Ruble(RUB) To US Dollar(USD) Currency Exchange Today - Foreign Currency Exchange Rates and Currency Converter Calculator
This is the page of currency pairs, Russian Ruble(RUB) convert to US Dollar(USD). Below shows the current exchange rate of the currency pairs updated every 1 minutes and their exchange rates history graph. Do you want to INVERT the two currencies?
Inflation Tool
inflationtool.com › russian-ruble
RUB Inflation Calculator - Russian Ruble (1992-2026)
Calculate the time value of money based on historical data from the Russia, using inflation rates and CPI. To start, select an amount and two years/months.
Global Database
globaldatabase.ecpat.org › Book › book-explore › Files:D0B7 › index_htm_files › how-much-was-a-ruble-worth-in-1986.pdf
How Much Was A Ruble Worth In 1986
December 4, 2021 - With an official exchange rate of 0.6 rubles per dollar, the ruble … · RUB Inflation Calculator - Russian Ruble (1992-2025) Calculate the time value of money based on historical data from the Russia, using inflation rates and CPI.
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Soviet_ruble
Soviet ruble - Wikipedia
September 3, 2025 - The Soviet Union officially valued the ruble in the planned economy at an average of US$1.35 (or Rbl 0.74 per US dollar; see below) from 1971 to 1988.
Rtn
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1986 RUB to USD - What is 1986 Russian rubles in US dollars?
Volatility over the past 30 days ... and the currency pair's volatility (RUB/USD). The low point is September 18 - $0.0119 for 1 Russian ruble ($23.643 for ₽1986)....
Historical Statistics
historicalstatistics.org › Currencyconverter.html
Historical Currency Converter
Sveriges Riksbank and Ekerlids, Stockholm. - PACIFIC Exchange Rate Service, 'Foreign Currency Units per 1 U.S. Dollar, 1948-2014', http://fx.sauder.ubc.ca - Reinhart, C, and Rogoff, K, 2002, 'The modern history of exchange rate arrangements: A reinterpretation'. NBER Working Paper Series 8963.
Wise
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800 Russian rubles to US dollars Exchange Rate. Convert RUB/USD - Wise
Convert 800 RUB to USD with the Wise Currency Converter. Analyze historical currency charts or live Russian ruble / US dollar rates and get free rate alerts directly to your email.
In2013Dollars
in2013dollars.com › russia › inflation
Inflation Rate between 1993-2026 | Russia Inflation Calculator
When ₽100 is equivalent to ₽80,452.41 over time, that means that the "real value" of a single Russian ruble decreases over time.
Inflation History
inflationhistory.com › en-US
Current value of 1000 US Dollars from 1900 — Historical Inflation Calculator
Discover the current value in dollars, euros, and other currencies of an amount spent in a specific year in the past. Historical inflation series.
Statista
statista.com › finance & insurance › financial instruments & investments
USD/RUB exchange rate 1992-1998| Statista
Basic Statistic U.S. dollar & euro to Russian ruble exchange rate monthly 2008-2025
Reddit
reddit.com › r/chernobyltv › how much was 800 rubles at the time?
r/ChernobylTV on Reddit: How much was 800 rubles at the time?
May 28, 2019 -
Some scoff at this amount as hardly compensation for their duties, while in the latest episode it's given as a big bonus.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_ruble#Historical_official_exchange_rates About $1050 USD in 1986. Just shy of $2500 today.
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Just FYI to everybody who asks questions like this (it also came up during episode 2, when the people sent to open the sluice gates were offered 150 rubles/year for their efforts): It's really, really hard to answer a question like this, because a consequence of Soviet-style central planning is that prices become more or less meaningless. Yes, you can look at the prices in a basket of goods in 1986 and compare that to today, but the 1986 prices don't mean the same thing as the present prices because they were set by the government and didn't correspond to the actual supply and demand of goods. For example, while the official sticker price of a loaf of bread might be 3 rubles (say), the reality is that bread was often in short supply (we all know about the stereotypical "bread lines"). So it's not really accurate to say "3 rubles could buy you a loaf of bread" -- you might be able to buy it at that price, but there's a nontrivial probability you can't buy it at all. So the conversion between now and then stops making full sense. It's also not great to use exchange rates from that period of time, because the Eastern bloc was basically a closed economy so there weren't a whole lot of things somebody outside the country could do with rubles.
GovInfo
govinfo.gov › content › pkg › GOVPUB-T63_100-dd1437db9d97161a1d6cd2945151dd6c › pdf › GOVPUB-T63_100-dd1437db9d97161a1d6cd2945151dd6c.pdf pdf
TREASURY REPORTING RATES OF EXCHANGE AS OF MARCH 31, 1986
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - ruble · .7135 · United Arab Emirates - dirham · 3.672 · United Kingdom - pound sterling .6740 · Uruguay - peso · 129.5 · Venezuela - bolivar · 18.70 · Viet-Nam - piastre · 755.0 · Western Samoa - tala · 2.230 · Yemen (Sana) - rial ' 8.500 · Yugoslavia - dinar · 305.9 · Zaire - zaire · 56.71 · Zambia - kwacha · 6.640 · Zimbabwe - dollar · 1.543 · Three amendments were issued for the March 31, 1986 exchange rates.