The distribution of awards of the 2nd International competition “Coin Constellation-2008” (organized by the Watermark Publishing House) took place on June 26 in “Park Inn Pribaltiyskaia” hotel.

Towards the 190th anniversary of Goznak the Bank of Russia will put into circulation two commemorative coins dedicated to the jubilee. Moreover, for the first time in Russia, a 3-kilogram gold coin will be among them.

The Saint-Petersburg and Moscow Mints of Goznak have announced that coins produced in 2007 will take part in the International Competition Coin Constellation-2008. Since April 15 till May 25, 2008, the preferential internet-voting for the commemorative coins of precious metals taking part in the 2nd International commemorative coin competition Coin Constellation-2008 will take place.

By the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin dated January 25th 2008, Arkady Trachuk, General Director of “Goznak” was awarded with the Order of Honor for his merits in the economics and financial activity.

The Saint-Petersburg Mint celebrated its 283rd birthday on December 14. The Saint-Petersburg Mint of Goznak is known to be founded by Peter the Great in 1724, but what day should be considered the exact date of its foundation? There is no accurate information. So that the employees of the Mint had their own holiday, Decree No. 240 “On setting the date of the Saint-Petersburg Mint” was signed on November 19, 1991. Since then, the Coin-maker’s Day – the major professional holiday of the employees of the Mint – is celebrated every December in Saint-Petersburg.

Perm Printing Factory – Branch of Goznak has received the MasterCard Worldwide certificate for banking plastic cards production.

The exhibition of banknotes of Ukraine, Belarus, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Latvia and China has been opened at the Museum of the Saint-Petersburg Paper Mill.

The Exhibition of Ancient Russian Embroidery and Modern Church Needlework took place on October in the Christian Art Museum at the metochion of St. Konstantin and Elena Monastery, in the Church of St. Andrew of Crete, Righteous Martyr (the former Church of the Expedition of Storing State Papers) with the participation of the Saint-Petersburg Paper Mill.

The Bank of Russia issued a commemorative silver coin with the face-value of 3 rubles dedicated to this date. However, it is not the first “space” contribution of Goznak. The tradition of issuing the special coins, tokens and stamps dedicated to the outer space exploration was started at the very beginning of the space age.

A Competition like this was held within the territory of Russia for the first time. “Coin Constellation-2007” was organized by the Watermark Publishing House – the founder and publisher of the Gold Chervonets (the first specialized edition in Russia dedicated to coins and medals) and the Watermark (the only magazine in Russia dedicated to security products).

The coin “150th Anniversary of the State Tretyakov Gallery Foundation” won the “Coin of the Year” category of the 1st International Coin Competition of the countries of the CIS and the Baltic States “Coin Constellation-2007”.

Another Watermark Conference dedicated to the security printing problems was opened in Suzdal (Russia) on June 28 2007. At the plenary sessions of the Conference its participants are discussing the matters of development of the banknote production and security printing field, the problems of falsification, authentication and security technologies perfecting, sharing their experience in the field of personalized documents and plastic cards. A few presentations are dedicated to the printing technologies and equipment. A.V. Yurov, Director of the Emission and Cash Transactions Department of the Bank of Russia, opened the Conference.

On May 31 the Bank of Russia put into circulation commemorative coins of the “Andrey Rublev” historical series: silver coins with the face-value of 3 and 100 rubles and gold coins with the face-value of 50 and 10 000 rubles.

The Koran was produced at the Moscow Mint in December 2006, and the world has not seen anything like it.