This photo shows new commemorative coins issued by the Russian central bank on December 28, 2017. (Photo by Russian central bank)

MOSCOW, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Russian central bank has launched into circulation new commemorative coins featuring popular cartoon heroes, the bank said Thursday.

One side of the coins bears an image of the state coat of arms of Russia with the denomination of three rubles (5 U.S. cents) or 25 rubles (43 U.S. cents), while the other side bears an image of Piglet and Pooh Bear, characters of a cartoon made after the book Winnie-the-Pooh by Alan A. Milne.

The bank has issued 3,000 silver coins with a face value of three rubles and 250,000 coins made of base metals with a face value of 25 rubles.

It has also issued the same amount of coins of the same denomination featuring the Three Heroes, characters of another popular Russian cartoon with the same name made on the basis of traditional legends.

The Bank of Russia has been issuing commemorative coins made of precious and non precious metals mainly for collectors and investors since 1992.