1 Rouble Strategic Missile Forces

Part of Russia's long-running military service commemorative program, this rouble belongs to a series honoring the branches of the Russian Armed Forces that was issued across several years in the 2000s and 2010s. The Strategic Missile Forces — known in Russian as the RVSN — were established as a separate branch in 1959 under Khrushchev, directly in response to the acceleration of the American ICBM program, and have remained the backbone of Russia's nuclear deterrent ever since.