Crimea chooses Russian ruble as 2nd official currency

RT.com reports: "The Crimean parliament has announced the Russian ruble will become the second official currency of Crimea and will be circulating alongside the Ukranian hryvnia until it is withdrawn in 2016. The decision marks the first step in the peninsula’s economic integration with Russia, after Crimea’s citizens overwhelmingly voted for joining Russia in Sunday's referendum."

There is of course still a lot of debate whether the referendum was illegal or not but Crimea (and Russia for that matter) doesn't seem to have any doubts and moves forwards towards a fait accomplie.

What most people don't know is that Crimea once had its own currency and banknotes. A nice example can be seen below on this 25 ruble banknote from 1918 (S371) with a map of Crimea on the back.