Weapons Designer Mikhail Koshkin
Obverse
in the centre there is a relief image of the National Coat of Arms of the Russian Federation and over it a semicircular inscription along the rim: "РОССИЙСКАЯ ФЕДЕРАЦИЯ" (RUSSIAN FEDERATION) framed by doubled rhombuses on both sides, under the emblem, in three lines, there is an inscription: "БАНК РОССИИ" (BANK OF RUSSIA), the coin’s par value "25 РУБЛЕЙ" (25 RUBLES), and the year of issue "2019 г." (2019), and on the right there is a mint trade mark.
Reverse
a relief image of the T-34 medium tank and the inscription ‘Т-34’ (T-34) underneath on the right; along the rim there are the inscriptions ‘ОРУЖИЕ ВЕЛИКОЙ ПОБЕДЫ’ (WEAPONS OF THE GREAT VICTORY) at the top and ‘М.И. КОШКИН’ (MIKHAIL KOSHKIN) at the bottom.
Authors
The artist: E.V. Kramskaya (obverse, reverse).
The sculptors: A.A. Dolgopolova (obverse), O.G. Shepel (reverse).
Mint: Moscow Mint (ММД).
The edge: 180 corrugations.
Discover more
Mikhail Ilyich Koshkin (1898-1940) was a Soviet tank designer. He created the famous T-34 medium tank, which was adopted by the Red Army in December 1939.
The T-34 tank was designed to provide the Soviet army with a heavy armoured tank impervious to enemy fire but fast and highly mobile at the same time. Koshkin’s idea to design a continuous track tank with enhanced armament and better off-road capacity than regular half-track tanks was successful. The T-34 coupled the above qualities with simple production and maintenance and offered room for further improvement. Effective engineering solutions included not only wide tracks and a powerful diesel engine but also sloped armour and a low silhouette, which made it a hard target for the enemy. Initially, the tank was equipped with a powerful 76 mm gun; in 1943 its firepower was enhanced with a 85 mm gun.
Thanks to its combat characteristics the T-34 was recognised as one of the best tanks of World War II.