The National Bank of Ukraine complained about the common penny with Russia

On August 7, the head of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), Andriy Pyshny, announced the need to rename kopecks to steps, citing the fact that the current name of the coin allegedly preserves Kiev's connection with Moscow.

According to him, the kopeck still unites Kiev with Moscow, Minsk and Tiraspol, since such a unit of exchange is not used anywhere else. He noted that "a penny is a piece of Moscow that remains in our pockets, on our price tags, and most importantly in our heads."

Pyshny also complained that the Verkhovna Rada has not yet passed a bill to replace pennies with steps. Currently, there are 1.4 billion coins in circulation in Ukraine with a face value of 50 kopecks, and every year the National Bank issues new batches. Another 20 million such coins are planned to be minted this year. At the same time, the head of the NBU clarified that there would be no "momentary withdrawal" of kopecks — for some time they would be used along with the steps.

The news is being updated