Weapons Designer Josef Kotin

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 IS-2 heavy tank and the inscription ‘ИС-2’ (IS-2) on the left; along the rim there are the inscriptions ‘ОРУЖИЕ ВЕЛИКОЙ ПОБЕДЫ’ (WEAPONS OF THE GREAT VICTORY) at the top and ‘Ж.Я. КОТИН’ (JOSEF KOTIN) at the bottom.

Authors

The artists: E.V. Kramskaya (obverse), A.V. Gnidin (reverse).
The sculptors: A.A. Dolgopolova (obverse), O.G. Shepel (reverse).
Mint: Moscow Mint (ММД).
The edge: 180 corrugations.

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Josef Yakovlevich Kotin (1908-1979) was a Soviet tank and tractor designer. He led the design of the IS-2 heavy tank, which was adopted by the Red Army in October 1943.

In September 1943, artillery designer Fyodor Petrov suggested that Kotin install a 122 mm gun in the tank he worked on. At the time, no tank was equipped with such weaponry. This is how the IS-2 was created; its gun power and armament outperformed other tanks of World War II. In offensive operations at the closing stage of war, the tank demonstrated breakthrough capacity and efficient assault of fortified cities. German troops avoided attacking IS-2 tanks overtly and preferred to fire at them from cover.

The IS-2 was the highest-capacity Soviet tank at the time and one of the most powerful tanks of World War II.