The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine supported in the first reading bill No. 14093 on renaming the “kopiyka” to the “shag”.
This was reported by the MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak.
The corresponding decision was supported by 264 MPs. According to the National Bank, almost 14 billion coins are currently in circulation in Ukraine.
Zheleznyak explains that for the next 3-4 years, only "50 shag" coins will be issued — approximately several tens of millions of pieces. The rest will be in denominations above the hryvnia.
On December 27, the Verkhovna Rada plans to convene for a plenary session to finally make a decision on renaming the kopeck to the step.
The change of name "kopiyka" was initiated by the National Bank back in September 2024. And the corresponding bill was registered on October 1. The explanatory note says that today kopecks remain in circulation only in states hostile to Ukraine. Of the 15 countries that were part of the USSR, “kopecks”, except for Ukraine, remained in only three: in Russia, Belarus and in unrecognized Transnistria.
The MPs also believe that the return of the name "shag" will serve to restore historical justice and de-Sovietize monetary circulation.
It is proposed that “kopecks” and “shags” be in circulation in parallel, the National Bank does not plan to specifically withdraw kopecks. They want to establish a ratio between them of 1:1.
Why "shag"?
A small coin called a "shag" was used in Ukraine from the time of the Hetmanate until the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917-1921.
Thus, on March 1, 1918, the Central Rada adopted a law on the hryvnia as the monetary unit of the Ukrainian Peopleʼs Republic, which provided for the issuance of state credit notes in denominations of 2, 5, 10, 20, 100, 500, and 1000 hryvnias, as well as coins in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 20, and 50 shags. However, these coins were never minted due to economic and technical difficulties.
Instead, small denominations were issued — State Treasury stamps — in denominations of 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 shags. On the reverse, they bore the inscription: “It is equal to a ringing coin”. They were in circulation until March 1919, when they were abolished by the Soviet authorities.
With Ukraine gaining independence in 1991, the issue of introducing its own currency became acute. The potential name for the coins caused lively discussion — various names were proposed, including "shag" (samples of such coins were even produced by the Luhansk Machine-Building Plant in 1992). Instead, on March 2, 1992, the Presidium of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved the name "kopeck" (kopiyka).
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