Ddiplomacy in Helpinskiy: White House Botches Trump-Putin Commemorative Coin

The White House has issued a new commemorative coin in honor of the summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki earlier this year, which has already attracted attention on social media for unintended reasons.

The coin, now available at the White House gift shop for $100, features the portraits of the two presidents on one side and the image of Helsinki Cathedral on the other.

However, it was several phrases in Russian featured on the coin’s reverse which attracted the attention of social media users due to some glaring typos they contained: “diplomatic mission” was spelled with one more “d” than necessary (“ddiplomatic”); the phrase “novoye era” (“new era”) has incorrect gender agreement, and should’ve been “novaya era” instead; and the summit itself was described as “Helpinskiy” instead of “Helsinskiy”.

​Also, Trump’s quote engraved on the coin (“the past does not have to define our future”) was apparently delivered by the US president during his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un which took place a month earlier, as NPR correspondent Alina Selyukh observed.

On July 16, US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Helsinki to discuss a wide range of bilateral and international issues. Emerging from two-hours of one-on-one talks, the two presidents said that a big step forward had been made in relations between the two countries.