Which Former Soviet Currencies Could Rise Next? The Surprising Truth

After the Soviet Union broke up, 15 new countries appeared, and each one either created its own money or later adopted the euro. Today, almost all of their currencies are much weaker than the U.S. dollar, meaning one dollar buys many units of local money. A few are relatively stable and well-managed, but none is a guaranteed “big winner” against the dollar – appreciation, when it happens, is usually slow and tied to things like inflation, economic growth, and political stability, not sudden jumps.

Starting with the biggest player, Russia, 1 USD is currently worth roughly 77–80 Russian rubles, after the ruble briefly strengthened earlier this month.(Reuters) Markets actually expect the ruble to weaken again in 2026, not strengthen, because of sanctions, capital controls, and dependence on oil exports.(Reuters) 

Ukraine’s hryvnia sits around 42 UAH per 1 USD, and the central bank has allowed a slow, controlled weakening as the war drags on.(Xe) Belarus’ ruble is weaker still, around 2.9–3 BYN per dollar, after years of inflation and devaluations.(Xe) Moldova’s leu is in the middle range – about 17 MDL for 1 USD – and the country increasingly thinks in euros rather than dollars for trade and policy.(Xe) Taken together, this “Slavic block” (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova) has currencies that historically lose value against the dollar over time; the main exceptions are short periods when energy prices are high or when central banks impose tight controls. None of these four looks like a strong candidate for long-term appreciation versus the dollar right now; at best, they might have short rallies if the war situation improves or oil and gas prices spike.

Three of the ex-Soviet countries – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – no longer use their own money at all. They are in the euro area, so their currency is the euro (EUR). As of December 2025, 1 USD buys about €0.86, which is another way of saying 1 euro is worth roughly $1.16.(Xe) The euro has actually strengthened in 2025, helped by expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates further and by weakness in some other big currencies.(Reuters) If the Fed cuts rates faster than the European Central Bank going forward, the euro could gain more on the dollar, and the Baltic states automatically benefit because they share the same currency. But again, that’s a macro interest-rate story, not something specific to Estonia, Latvia, or Lithuania themselves.

The Caucasus region shows a mix of stable and flexible currencies. In Georgia, 1 USD buys about 2.7 lari (GEL).(Wise) The lari has been impressively stable around this level since mid-2023, supported by strong foreign-currency inflows from exports, remittances, and tourism.(Georgia Today) 

 In Armenia, 1 USD is roughly 380–390 drams (AMD).(Xe) The dram actually strengthened a lot in 2022–23 because of capital and people moving in from Russia, and the IMF notes that Armenia has had strong growth and continued capital inflows.(Capital.com) That said, analysts also warn that the dram may now be somewhat over-valued, so a slow weakening is possible if those inflows fade.(Cbonds Congress) 

Azerbaijan’s manat (AZN) is a special case: 1 USD = 1.7 manat, and that level has barely moved for years because the government effectively pegs the manat to the dollar and supports it with oil and gas revenues.(Wise) In this region, if any currencies are “positioned” to hold value or even slowly gain in real terms, it’s likely the lari and the dram, thanks to reforms and capital inflows. But even there, appreciation versus the dollar is more likely to be gradual and could reverse if growth slows or politics turn messy.

The five Central Asian ex-Soviet states all have weaker, higher-denomination currencies. In Kazakhstan, 1 USD is around 510–520 tenge (KZT), and the National Bank runs an inflation-targeting regime with a floating exchange rate, so the tenge moves with oil prices, inflation, and capital flows.(Exchange Rates) Recent private forecasts actually expect more tenge depreciation toward 550–560 per dollar by the end of 2025.(Halyk Finance) 

Kyrgyzstan’s som (KGS) is very stable on paper – about 87.5 per USD – because the central bank has held it nearly flat for months.(National Bank of Kyrgyz Republic) Tajikistan’s somoni (TJS) trades near 9.2–9.3 per USD,(Wise) Turkmenistan’s manat (TMT) is kept at about 3.5 per USD by a hard peg,(Alan Chand) and Uzbekistan’s sum (UZS) is the weakest numerically: around 12,000 sums for 1 USD.(Xe) These currencies come from economies with higher inflation, heavy reliance on commodities or remittances, and, in some cases, capital controls. Historically, their trend has been gradual depreciation, not long-term gains, versus the dollar.

So, if you’re asking “which of these might realistically rise in value against the dollar?” the honest, simple answer is:

• None of the post-Soviet currencies is a clear, low-risk “appreciation play” like a classic hard currency (e.g., Swiss franc).

• The euro (and therefore Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) could strengthen further if U.S. rates fall faster than European rates – but it can also swing the other way.(Reuters)

• Among local currencies, Georgia’s lari (GEL) and Armenia’s dram (AMD) currently look relatively strong and well-supported by reforms and sustained inflows, so they are better positioned to hold their value or slowly gain in real terms – but there is no guarantee of a big move up.(Georgia Today)

• Oil-backed pegs like Azerbaijan’s manat and Turkmenistan’s manat are stable, but they usually move only when the government chooses to devalue, not revalue upward.(Trend)

• Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and others have either war risks, sanctions, or inflation pressures that make long-term appreciation against the dollar unlikely in the near term.

In very plain language: most of these currencies have spent 15+ years slowly losing ground to the dollar, and only a few (euro, lari, dram) are in a position where you could even talk about possible steady strength. Even then, any rise in value is likely to be slow and driven by broad economic trends, not a big overnight jump like some people hope for with “revaluation” stories.

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