1 Poltinnik Leonid Brezhnev

The "Poltinnik" name is a revival of a pre-revolutionary term for a 50-kopek piece, last used officially on Soviet coinage of the 1920s. This 2014 issue belongs to a series of circulation coins struck by the Bank of Russia bearing portraits of Soviet-era General Secretaries — a politically loaded decision for a post-Soviet state still negotiating its relationship with the USSR's memory. Brezhnev's inclusion is notable given that his 18-year tenure ended in the stagnation period Russians call "Zastoi," a word that carries no nostalgia even among rehabilitationists.