March 6, 2009
Posted: March 6th, 2009 04:17 PM ET
From CNN Foreign Affairs Correspondent Jill Dougherty
A little misunderstanding over a big red button.
(CNN) - When it comes to Russia, the Obama administration has been talking about “pressing the reset button.” It’s meant to symbolize a possible new start in U.S./Russian relations, which “crashed” after Russia invaded Georgia last August. So when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton greeted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Geneva Friday before sitting down to their working dinner, she was all smiles when she presented him a small green box with a ribbon. Lavrov opened it and, inside, there was a red button with the Russian word “peregruzka” printed on it. "I would like to present you with a little gift that represents what President Obama and Vice President Biden and I have been saying and that is: 'We want to reset our relationship, and so we will do it together.' ... "We worked hard to get the right Russian word. Do you think we got it?" she asked Lavrov, laughing. “You got it wrong," said Lavrov, as both diplomats laughed. “It should be “perezagruzka” [the Russian word for reset]," said Lavrov."This says ‘peregruzka,’ which means ‘overcharged.’”
A quick comeback – and recovery – from Clinton: "We won't let you do that to us, I promise. We mean it and we look forward to it." Ever the diplomat, Lavrov says he’ll put the “reset” button on his desk. A few minutes later, Clinton senior adviser Philippe Reines sent an e-mail message to reporters covering the Secretary of State. “Since we're all learning a little Russian today, ‘opechatka’ is Russian for ‘typo,'” he wrote. “So the *Opechatka* is being fixed, the gift will correctly read ‘Perezagruzka’ by the time of the joint press conference. If any of you travel with labelmaking devices equipped with Russian spell-check, please do let me know...” Filed under: Hillary Clinton |
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