A sign of things to come?

The Russian rouble does not currently have a sign of its own, like the £Pound or the $Dollar, so some Russian scholars got together to come up with the symbol above, which signifies the linking of the cyrillic 'R' and 'Y', with a hint of the Viking ships of the Novgorodians and the Rus, who drove the first trade routes down from the Baltic to the Black Sea. (Often in search of Byzantine gold in exchange for Baltic gold, or amber.)

What better way to launch this new symbol, than for Putin to announce the creation of the 'Gold Rouble', possibly at the close of the G20 conference? John Laughland, at Novosti, examines the Real Politik behind this.