CabMin requests Vladimir the Great and Yaroslav the Wise "shave off beards"

The Cabinet of Ministers requests that the images of "beardless" princes be returned to the hryvnia. Photo: zerkalo.mk.ua

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine offered to “shave off beards” to the holy princes of Kievan Rus’ Vladimir the Great and Yaroslav the Wise on 1- and 2-hryvnia coins. The initiative was made by Minister Oleg Nemchinov at a government meeting on Wednesday, September 3, 2020, which was broadcast on the YouTube channel of the Cabinet.

In response to the congratulations of the head of the National Bank of Ukraine Kirill Shevchenko on the 24th anniversary of the introduction of the national currency, which replaced the karbovanets, Nemchinov asked to return the previous princes' images to the hryvnia.

“I want to thank for the congratulations and ask the head of the National Bank to “shave off the beards” to Vladimir the Great and Yaroslav the Wise, and return our princes to us in the form in which they were on the original, the best hryvnias,” said the Minister of the Cabinet.

Shevchenko responded to the request by clarifying that from August 2 the National Bank began to withdraw banknotes with "the images you mentioned" from circulation.

“These are the banknotes that were put into circulation before 2003,” added the head of the National Bank.

Let us recall that on the hryvnia banknotes that were issued in Ukraine until 2004-2005, the holy princes of Kievan Rus Vladimir the Great and Yaroslav the Wise were depicted beardless.

As reported earlier, the National Bank has previously put into circulation a commemorative coin “Granting Tomos of Autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine” with a face value of 50 hryvnias.

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