Chairman of the Russian Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina presented new Russian 200 and 2,000 ruble bills here on Thursday.
"The first new banknotes will start to circulate in the regions depicted on them -- the Far East and the Crimea, as well as in Moscow," Nabiullina said at the presentation of the bills in TASS.
She said the new bills will be introduced in stages, since they are developed in strict secrecy in accordance with the international practice in order to counter counterfeiters.
According to her, ATMs and payment terminals will be ready to operate with new bills by December.
Nabiullina said the issue of banknotes will not affect inflation, as with the introduction of new notes the number of 100 and 1,000 ruble bills will be simultaneously cut.
Last year, the bank held a contest for the selection of symbols for the new bills in which over three million people participated, and its board decided to use images of Crimea on the 200 ruble bills and the Far East on the 2,000 ruble bills.
The autonomous republic of Crimea became part of Russia in March 2014 following a local referendum, which was rejected by Ukraine and Western countries. In 2015 the central bank launched a limited number of 100 ruble bills with images of Crimea.
Prior to the introduction of the new bills, 5, 10, 50, 100, 500, 1,000 and 5,000 ruble notes were in circulation.