Russia to issue 'Crimea banknote', says central bank

Pedestrians walk by a mural depicting Russian president Vladimir Putin dressed as a Russian Navy seaman, in the Crimean city of Sevastopol, on June 28, 2014. Russia plans to issue a banknote dedicated to Crimea, a senior central bank official sa
Pedestrians walk by a mural depicting Russian president Vladimir Putin dressed as a Russian Navy seaman, in the Crimean city of Sevastopol, on June 28, 2014. Russia plans to issue a banknote dedicated to Crimea, a senior central bank official said on July 2, the latest expression of national pride over Moscow's annexation of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine. -- PHOTO: AFP

ST PETERSBURG (REUTERS) - Russia plans to issue a banknote dedicated to Crimea, a senior central bank official said on Wednesday, the latest expression of national pride over Moscow's annexation of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine.

"We plan to issue a banknote dedicated to Crimea, but it will be a banknote of the denominations already in circulation," Georgy Luntovsky, the bank's first deputy chairman, told journalists at a banking conference in St Petersburg.

Mr Luntovsky said he hoped the banknote would be issued by the end of the year but gave no further details.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March, prompting a surge in national fervour by reclaiming what many Russians see as their historic land but also precipitating the worst standoff in East-West relations since the Cold War.

It was not immediately clear what the Crimea banknote would look like, though a Russian politician earlier suggested it should depict monuments in Crimea, including those in Sevastopol where Russia's Black Sea fleet is based.

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