Syrian banknotes from Russia

Some months ago there were questions being asked where Syria gets its new banknotes from. The 2009 issues (P112-P114) were printed by Oesterreichische Banknoten- und Sicherheitsdruck in Austria but due to sanctions by the EU against the Syrian regime, that printer was no longer available. Most people believed that the new printer would be Goznak, Russia’s biggest security printer. A fact flatly denied by the governor of the Syrian Central Bank (update: ...but which in the mean time has been confirmed by Goznak themselves).

But now new evidence has surfaced. Flight records show that massive amounts of cash have been flown from Russia to Syria. About 240 tons of banknotes to be precise! These are needed by the Syrian regime to cope with the international sanctions and to pay the war effort.