Latvia 2023: Slava Ukrainai

[chrisild]

Next year Latvia will issue a commemorative €2 coin to show the country's support of a free and independent Ukraine. The piece will feature a sunflower; according to this news article, "Ukraine is the world's largest sunflower grower/producer and exporter of sunflower oil. However, sunflowers are important not only from the point of view of the national economy – since Russia started the cruel war in Ukraine, the sunflower has also become a global symbol of peace".

The text on the coin says "Slava Ukrainai!" – the Latvian version of the Ukrainian "Слава Україні!" (This "Glory to Ukraine!" became popular and widely known during the Euromaidan 2013 and the protests and conflict in 2014.) The obverse – image from the link above – was designed by the Latvian artist Krišs Salmanis. Mintage should be roughly 400,000 pieces; there will be a "regular" version, in rolls, and a BU version.

This way all Baltic countries that became independent from the USSR again in 1990/91 – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania – will issue, or have issued, Ukraine solidarity €2 commems. The Estonian coin can already be had; the Latvian and Lithuanian pieces will come next year.

[Angus]

I thought the sunflower was more a symbol of resistance than peace?

[Figleaf]

The sunflower has had a multi-facetted career. It originated as an "unofficial national symbol". It is thought that the yellow sunflower against a blue sky inspired the thought to make the sunflower a national symbol.

In June 1996, defense ministers from Ukraine, Russia, and the United States met at a missile base in southern Ukraine. They had concluded a treaty for Ukraine's giving up its nuclear weapons. During a ceremony, they planted sunflowers. That made the sunflowers a peace symbol.

After the latest Russian aggression, protesters all over the world used the sunflower as a symbol. It quickly evolved from symbol of solidarity to symbol of the Ukrainian resistance.

Peter

[Angus]

Fair enough!

[chrisild]

Here is an image of the actual coin, from the WMF video (a little dark, sorry). The mint rep does not really say much beyond what we know anyway but I like both the theme and the design.