5 Roubles Tallinn

Part of the nine-coin series issued across 1977–1980 to commemorate the Moscow Olympics, this piece honors Tallinn's role as the sailing venue — specifically the Pirita harbor facilities built for the Games. The Soviet Union's decision to include three Baltic capital cities among the commemorated locations carried an uncomfortable irony: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania had been forcibly annexed in 1940 and were not recognized as Soviet territory by most Western governments, several of which would later boycott the Moscow Games entirely over the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan.

Mintage figures for the Olympic rouble series ran into the millions, with substantial quantities sold to Western collectors through Vneshposyltorg, the Soviet foreign-trade retail arm.