Mr. Snyder. No; but 5,000 rubles at that time was probably two-thirds to three-quarters of the monthly salary of an average Soviet worker.
Representative Ford. Could you describe——
Mr. Dulles. About $500, isn't it, roughly—10 to 1 in those days?
Mr. Snyder. Wait a minute; yes.
Mr. Dulles. It was a considerable sum.
Representative Ford. It would be more than a month's salary, then.
Mr. Snyder. Yes; an average month's salary at the time was about 750 rubles, something around there.
Mr. Dulles. I think the legal rate was 20 cents, but the sort of going rate was around 10, I think. I think you could buy tourist rubles around 10, as I recall—10 to the dollar. The legal rate, I think, was 5 to the dollar.
Mr. Snyder. No; I think the legal rate was 10 to a dollar, Mr. Dulles.
Mr. Chayes. In the same letter that states the date, which we supplied to the Commission at the Commission's request, it states that the legal rate was 4 to 1 until January 1961. But that was the official rate.