Goznak

Goznak is a Russian state-controlled security-printing, paper-making, minting, and document-personalization enterprise. Its institutional history begins with the Expedition for the Preparation of State Papers, established in Saint Petersburg by an imperial decree in 1818 under the Ministry of Finance. The organization was created to centralize the production of banknotes and other sensitive state documents, and it later became one of the country’s principal centers of expertise in protected paper, engraving, printing, and monetary production. The modern name Goznak emerged after the reorganization of the state currency-production system following the 1917 revolution. The name is derived from the Russian expression for “state insignia” or “state mark.” Initially focused primarily on paper money and related printed materials, the organization expanded its remit in 1941 when the Leningrad Mint was brought under its control. This created a combined structure spanning both paper-based currency production and metal coin manufacturing. Goznak’s activities cover much more than the printing of Russian ruble banknotes. Its facilities produce or support the production of circulation coins, commemorative coins, medals, state decorations, postage stamps, government bonds, checks, lottery tickets, savings-bank books, payment cards, and high-grade or specially protected papers. It also participates in the production and personalization of passports and other identity documents, including electronic passports and blanks for civil-status documents. The company’s research and development capabilities address anti-counterfeiting technologies, printing processes, secure materials, machine-readable and electronic documents, and equipment used in counting and processing currency. The organization combines manufacturing sites with research infrastructure. The structure described in reference material includes two paper mills, two mints, two major printing factories or works, a dedicated printing house, and the Goznak research institute. Its principal facilities include the Moscow Mint, Saint Petersburg Mint, Perm Printing Factory, Moscow Printing Factory, Moscow Printing Works, Saint Petersburg Paper Mill, Krasnokamsk Paper Mill, and the Moscow-based research institute. This network allows Goznak to work across the full production cycle, from security-paper development and design to printing, minting, personalization, inspection, and secure delivery. Goznak has also served foreign customers. Reference material records contracts to print or manufacture currency and related products for countries including Lebanon, Yemen, Guatemala, Rwanda, Angola, and India. In 1999, the Moscow Mint won a tender to manufacture Indian two- and five-rupee copper-nickel coins. Such contracts place Goznak within the international security-printing and minting industry, although its central strategic role remains tied to the Russian state and its monetary, identity, and administrative systems. The company’s legal form changed during the post-Soviet period. In 2006, the Association of State Companies “Goznak” became the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Goznak.” In 2008, it was designated a strategic enterprise of Russia. In 2014, a presidential decree transformed it from a federal state unitary enterprise into an open joint-stock company wholly owned by the federal government. Goznak therefore operates as a commercial corporate entity while retaining a highly strategic public-sector function. Goznak’s history is closely connected with Russian technological development in security printing. Its institutional predecessors used galvanoplastic methods for printing plates in the nineteenth century, while Ivan Orlov developed a multicolor printing process that became influential in protected document production. During the Soviet period, the organization also developed currency-counting technology and operated a specialized research institute. Today, its positioning is t…

Goznak traces its institutional origins to the Russian Empire’s Expedition for the Preparation of State Papers, founded in Saint Petersburg on 4 September 1818, corresponding to 21 August in the Old Style calendar. The organization was established by decree of Emperor Alexander I under the Ministry of Finance. Finance Minister Dmitry Guriev assigned the engineer Agustín de Betancourt to design and build a modern, steam-powered facility for producing currency and other protected state papers. The enterprise became an important site for technical innovation in security printing. In 1838, the Prussian-born academician Moritz von Jacobi used galvanoplastic technology to create printing plates, an early milestone in the industrial development of protected printing. During the 1890s, the organization’s employee Ivan Orlov developed the multicolor process later known as Orlov printing. The method enabled precise multicolor registration and became influential in the design of banknotes and other documents that required resistance to imitation. Orlov also constructed multicolor presses that remained in use in some countries into the 1970s. After the 1917 revolution, the former state currency-production department was reorganized. In 1919 it adopted the name Goznak, a shortened form of the Russian term meaning state insignia or state mark. During the early Soviet period, the organization concentrated on banknotes and related state documents. The sculptor Ivan Shadr, who worked with Goznak in the 1920s, created early designs and samples for Soviet money. In 1941, Goznak’s responsibilities expanded substantially when the Leningrad Mint was transferred to it. This brought coin production, medals, orders, and other metal objects within the same institutional system as banknote and security-paper production. The Leningrad Mint was later renamed in accordance with the city’s political name and regained the Saint Petersburg designation in the 1990s. The Saint Petersburg Paper Mill likewise operated under the Leningrad name during the Soviet period. In the postwar decades, Goznak continued to combine production with applied research. During the 1950s and 1960s, V. A. Oleynik, an employee of the Goznak Moscow Printing Factory, developed an original currency-counting device. The technology was subsequently advanced by personnel at the All-Union Research Institute, and counting equipment was deployed across Goznak’s paper mills, printing plants, and mints. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Goznak broadened its commercial and technological activities. In 1997, the Perm Printing Factory began producing telephone cards for public telephones, making more than one million cards during its first year at the new site. In 1999, the Moscow Mint won a tender to manufacture copper-nickel two- and five-rupee coins for India. Goznak also undertook banknote production for foreign states, with reference material identifying customers or markets including Lebanon, Yemen, Guatemala, Rwanda, and Angola. The organization underwent a formal restructuring in 2006, when the Association of State Companies “Goznak” became the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Goznak.” At that point its structure was described as comprising eight branches: two printing factories, two paper mills, two mints, a printing works, and a research institute. Goznak subsequently expanded its role in electronic identity documents. In early 2006, the Moscow Printing Factory began personalizing the first electronic passports. Its personalization capacity was described as exceeding five million passports per year, using laser engraving at the Moscow facility and at a second multifunctional personalization center. Goznak was designated a strategic enterprise of Russia on 3 March 2008. On 5 June 2014, a presidential decree ordered the conversion of the federal state unitary enterprise into an open joint-stock company wholly owned by the Russian government. The change gave the organization a corporate legal form without privatizing its ownership or removing its strategic public function. The company’s institutional memory has also been represented through commemorative philatelic and numismatic issues. A Russian postage stamp marked the 175th anniversary of its foundation in 1993. A postal block and a Bank of Russia commemorative coin marked the 190th anniversary in 2008. In 2018, the Bank of Russia issued three-ruble and twenty-five-ruble silver commemorative coins for the bicentenary of the Expedition for the Preparation of State Papers. In September 2022, the United Kingdom sanctioned Goznak after accusing it of producing blank Russian passports for citizens of Ukraine in territories occupied by Russia. The measure highlighted the company’s role in identity-document production and the geopolitical sensitivity of its state-security activities. Goznak remains a major Russian producer of banknotes, coins, secure papers, official documents, medals, and anti-counterfeiting technologies, supported by a network of specialized manufacturing and research facilities.

1. 2022Added to a United Kingdom sanctions list

   The United Kingdom sanctioned Goznak after alleging that it produced blank Russian passports for people in occupied Ukrainian territories.

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2. 2018Bicentennial commemorative coins issued

   The Bank of Russia issued commemorative silver coins marking 200 years since the founding of the Expedition for the Preparation of State Papers.

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3. 2014Converted into a government-owned joint-stock company

   A presidential decree converted Goznak from a federal state unitary enterprise into an open joint-stock company with 100% federal ownership.

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4. 2008Designated a strategic enterprise

   Goznak was formally designated a strategic enterprise of Russia.

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5. 2006Electronic-passport personalization launched

   The Moscow Printing Factory began personalizing Russia’s first electronic passports using laser engraving and dedicated personalization centers.

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6. 2006Goznak became a federal state unitary enterprise

   The Association of State Companies “Goznak” was transformed into the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Goznak.”

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7. 1999Indian coin-production contract won

   The Moscow Mint won a tender to manufacture copper-nickel two- and five-rupee coins for India.

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8. 1997Perm Printing Factory began producing telephone cards

   The Perm facility launched telephone cards for public telephones and produced more than one million cards during its first year at the new site.

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9. 1993175th-anniversary postage stamp issued

   Russia issued a postage stamp commemorating the 175th anniversary of Goznak’s institutional predecessor.

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10. 1941Coin production added to Goznak’s responsibilities

    The Leningrad Mint was transferred to Goznak, expanding the organization from paper currency and documents into coinage and related metal products.

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11. 1919The name Goznak adopted

    After the 1917 revolution and subsequent reorganization, the state currency-production department adopted the name Goznak.

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12. 1890Orlov multicolor printing developed

    Ivan Orlov developed a multicolor printing process and related presses that became influential in banknote production.

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13. 1838Galvanoplastic printing-plate technology introduced

    Moritz von Jacobi used galvanoplastic methods to produce printing plates, contributing to the development of modern security printing.

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14. 1818Expedition for the Preparation of State Papers founded

    An imperial decree established the organization in Saint Petersburg under the Ministry of Finance as a centralized producer of banknotes and protected state papers.

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15. 1724Saint Petersburg Mint established

    The Saint Petersburg Mint was established during the reign of Peter the Great and later became part of the institutional history of Goznak’s minting operations.

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Vertically integrated state security-printing, minting, paper, and document-personalization provider.

• BanknotesCurrency and security printing

  Goznak produces Russian banknotes and has also undertaken banknote production for foreign countries. Its capabilities include protected paper, intaglio and multicolor printing, numbering, inspection, and other anti-counterfeiting processes. The company’s banknote work is supported by specialized research and manufacturing facilities.

• Circulation coinsMinting1941

  Through its mints, Goznak manufactures Russian circulation coins and has produced coinage for foreign customers. Minting operations include preparation of dies and blanks, striking, quality control, and secure handling of finished coins.

• Commemorative coins and medalsNumismatic and ceremonial products

  Goznak’s mints produce commemorative coins, medals, orders, decorations, and other official or ceremonial metal products. These products serve state, institutional, historical, and collector-oriented purposes.

• Security paperProtected materials1818

  Goznak’s paper mills manufacture special and high-grade papers used in banknotes, official documents, and other protected applications. Security-paper production forms part of the company’s vertically integrated anti-counterfeiting system.

• Passports and identity documentsSecure identity documents2006

  The company produces passport blanks and supports the personalization of identity documents. Its facilities have handled electronic-passport personalization using laser engraving and electronic data carriers, alongside other secure document services.

• Official and financial documentsSecurity printing

  The product portfolio includes government bonds, checks, letters of credit, savings-bank books, lottery tickets, postage stamps, and blanks for birth certificates, marriage licenses, and other official documents.

• Payment and telephone cardsCards and secure identification media1997

  Goznak has manufactured credit cards, banking cards, and telephone cards. The Perm Printing Factory’s 1997 telephone-card launch illustrates the company’s expansion into card-based transaction and communications media.

• 2014Converted into a government-owned joint-stock companyStrategy

  The Russian government changed the legal form of a strategically important state enterprise without transferring ownership to private investors.

  What changed. A presidential decree converted Goznak into an open joint-stock company with the federal government holding all shares.

  Aftermath. Goznak acquired a corporate legal structure while remaining wholly state-owned and central to Russia’s secure-production infrastructure.

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• 2006Introduced electronic-passport personalizationProduct launch

  The modernization of Russian identity documents created demand for secure personalization and electronic data-carrier processing.

  What changed. The Moscow Printing Factory began personalizing the first electronic passports using laser engraving, supported by dedicated personalization centers.

  Aftermath. Goznak expanded from traditional printing and minting into digitally enabled identity-document services, with a stated capacity of more than five million passports per year.

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• 2006Reorganized as a federal state unitary enterpriseStrategy

  The Russian state restructured the group while retaining public ownership over its paper mills, printing facilities, mints, and research institute.

  What changed. The Association of State Companies “Goznak” became the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Goznak.”

  Aftermath. The reorganization preserved Goznak as a consolidated national platform for currency, documents, security paper, and minting.

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• 1999Pursued foreign minting work through an Indian coin contractOther

  Goznak sought and won international production work as its post-Soviet operations developed beyond the Russian domestic market.

  What changed. The Moscow Mint won a tender to manufacture copper-nickel two- and five-rupee coins for India.

  Aftermath. The contract demonstrated that Goznak’s minting capabilities could serve foreign sovereign customers as well as Russian state requirements.

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• 2022UK sanctions over alleged passport production for occupied Ukrainian territoriesControversy

  In September 2022, the United Kingdom included Goznak on a sanctions list. The stated allegation was that the company produced blank Russian passports for citizens of Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia after the 2022 annexation referendums. The case reflects the geopolitical sensitivity of Goznak’s role in identity-document production.

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• 2014Goznak converted from a federal state unitary enterprise into a government-owned joint-stock company

  A presidential decree changed Goznak’s legal form to an open joint-stock company while retaining complete federal ownership.

  Regulation
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• 2008Goznak designated a strategic enterprise of Russia

  Goznak received strategic-enterprise status, reflecting its importance to Russia’s monetary, document, and state-security infrastructure.

  RegulationOther
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1. Goznak
2. Official Goznak website