5 Roubles Kiev

Part of the Bank of Russia's long-running "Ancient Cities of Russia" series, this issue commemorates Kiev at a moment of acute political sensitivity — two years after Russia's annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of conflict in eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin was pointedly issuing coinage celebrating a city that is the capital of a neighboring sovereign state with which it was in active hostilities. The series framing of Kiev as an "ancient Russian city" reflects a specific historical argument about Rus' origins that remained deeply contested in 2016.