1,000,000th vote on website (Твоя-Россия.рф) goes to Chelyabinsk meteorite
The number of those who submitted their votes to select the symbols for new Bank of Russia 200- and 2,000-ruble banknotes is now 1,002,143. The 1,000,000th vote was given to the Chelyabinsk meteorite at 11:36 a.m. Moscow time on 22 July.
It turned out to be the 57th symbol which collected 5,000 votes and thus qualified, while Chelyabinsk is the 40th Russian city now present on the interactive map.
As of 22 July, citizens from all Russian cities and regions took part in the contest. Overall, 4,788 symbols have been submitted.
On 21 July, the second city – Nizhny Novgorod – qualified for the second round with three symbols: Kremlin, monument to Valery Chkalov and Trade Fair. Kazan was the first 3-symbol city to qualify. Currently, there are 18 cities with 2-symbol qualification, and 20 cities qualified with just one symbol.
It is noteworthy that one of the symbols which collected 5,000 votes – Muromsky Bridge across the Oka river -- is linked to two cities from neighbouring regions – Murom in the Vladimir Region and Navashino in the Nizhny Novgorod Region. With this in view, the engineering construction can rightly be regarded as a strategic object for both regions although the great majority of users submitted the bridge as a Murom symbol.
The first round of the contest will be over in six full days.
At 11:59 p.m. on 28 July, on-line voting on a dedicated website (Твоя-Россия.рф) will stop, and an extended list of symbols qualified for the second round will be posted the next day.
The all-Russian selection of symbols for new 200- and 2,000-ruble banknotes was initiated by the Bank of Russia. Never before the Russians could submit and select symbols for new banknotes by themselves. The contest is a three-round procedure with 7 October 2016 being its final day when the winners will be announced.