Within the framework of its emission activities, the Bank of Russia issues commemorative coins made of precious and non precious metals as well as investment ones made of precious metals, which are distributed inside and outside the country. The Bank of Russia has been engaged in this work since its founding in 1992 (previously, in  1965 - 1991 commemorative and investment coins were issued by the State Bank of the USSR).

    In recent years coins of historical and sport series, long-term programmes such as "Outstanding Personalities of Russia", "Architectural Monuments of Russia", "The Golden Ring of Russia", "Armed Forces of the Russian Federation", "Red Data Book", "Protect Our World", "The Lunar Calendar" and the others predominate in the coin's issues of the Bank of Russia.

    For the first time in 1996 Russian citizens were offered investment coins on domestic market: a gold uncirculated Chervonets coin of 1975-1982 years of issue and a silver coin of 1995 year of issue, featuring the Sable.

    According to the decision of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia, taken on March 5, 2001, the gold  uncirculated Chervonets coin and the silver one "Sable" are circulating on the territory of the Russian Federation as legal tender equally with new coins put into circulation from January 1, 1998.

    In February 2006 a new gold investment coin featuring George the Victorious has been issued into circulation by the Bank of Russia.

    The gold uncirculated  Chervonets, the gold coin "George the Victorious", the silver coin "Sable" as well as gold coins of the series "Signs of the Zodiac" have the status and technical parameters of those coins of precious metals which are not a subject to the VAT according to the Article 149 of the second part of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. These regulations and relatively low cost value of the above mentioned coins make it possible for their circulating at prices close to the value of the precious metals content in the corresponding coins.

    Thus the conditions are being created for gold and silver coins to be used as an independent  instrument for the investment of free funds.

    Detailed information about coins issued in 1992 and later is available in the Commemorative Coins database.

    The coins of the Bank of Russia are struck in the Moscow and St. Petersburg mints and have a high artistic standard and perfect striking quality. They are popular in Russia and abroad, some of them repeatedly took prizes due to opinion polls which used to be held by specialised foreign numismatic publications and organizations.

    The Bank of Russia's commemorative and investment coins are distributed on the domestic market by credit institutions of the Russian Federation (more than 100 commercial banks were numbered actually). The main part of coins is distributed by the Savings Bank (Sberbank) of the Russian Federation.

    For more information about commemorative and investment coins of the Bank of Russia please, use the following e-mail addresses: gvm@cbr.ru or svp2@cbr.ru

Latest update on March 16, 2006