The Russian Central Bank has made the final choice of the national currency symbol.

      At the meeting of the board of directors on December 11, the Bank of Russia approved the letter P with the lower part crossed by a horizontal line as graphic sign that it will use from now on.

      A coin worth 1 rouble featuring the new symbol is expected to appear in 2014, said senior vice governor of the Central Bank, Georgy Luntovsky.

      The decision was taken after an online poll where the Russians could choose between five graphic images.

      Option No. 2 won with an overwhelming majority, gaining 61 percent.

      As Russia-IC reported earlier, the push for a branded image started long ago, back in 2007, but the official symbol was never released.

      A group of initiators including Design Depo, Designet, Direct Design, Imadesign, Letterhead, Paratype, and Art. Lebedev Studio decided to take the matter into their own hands because “either professional designers took the lead in finding the sign, or everyone would once again end up having to use something disturbingly lame,” runs a brief description of the early attempts on the webpage of the Art Lebedev studio.

      The decision by the Central Bank is part of the drive by the Russian authorities to attract foreign capital and turn Moscow into a global financial center.