July 3, postage stamps dedicated to public officials to be issued as part of the joint issue of Thailand and Russia
Diplomatic relations between Russia and Siam were established during the visit of King Chulalongkorn (King Rama V) to the Russian Empire July 2–10, 1897. Russian diplomat Aleksandr Olarovsky was appointed Charge d’affaires and Consul General of the Russian Empire to Siam on December 4, 1897. A Declaration on Jurisdiction, Trade and Seafaring was signed in Bangkok on June 23, 1899. Thailand (Siam) saw the Russian Empire as a possible ally hoping for support in asserting its independence from European colonial powers and retaining its political sovereignty. Relations between the two states gradually improved. Russian hereditary prince Nicholas visited Bangkok in 1891. In turn, the Siamese royal family paid numerous visits to Russia, which strengthened friendship between the countries.
In 1897, when King Rama V traveled around Europe, the Kingdom of Siam received a summons to surrender the country to the French army. Chulalongkorn turned to all the European nations for help. It was only Russia that answered inviting the King of Siam to Petersburg to Emperor Nicholas II, who proposed taking a shared picture. The photo was printed in all the European press as an evidence of close friendship between the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Siam. A conflict with Russia was highly disadvantageous for the French government so France forgot about the summons and left Siam after the photo was published. Such a political move by Nicholas II saved the Kingdom of Siam from colonization.
The postage stamp features King Chulalongkorn of Siam and Emperor Nicholas II of Russia during their meeting in Saint Petersburg in 1897.
Additionally, JSC “Marka” will manufacture a first day cover and special cancellation postmark for Moscow.
Design: R. Komsa.
Face value: 22 RUB.
Size of stamp: 30×42 mm, size of sheet: 170×146 mm.
Form of issue: sheet with illustrated margins of 14 (3×5) stamps and a coupon.
Circulation: 420,000 stamps each (30,000 sheets).
July 7, en envelope with an original stamp dedicated to the 100th birth anniversary of Mikhail Devyatayev, a fighter pilot, to be issued as part of the To the 75th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945 series
Guards Senior Lieutenant Mikhail Petrovich Devyatayev (1917‒2002) was a Hero of the Soviet Union, an Echelon Commander with the 104
th Guard Fighter Wing.
Mikhail Devyatayev started off as part of a grouping of Bell P-39 Airacobra fighters under the command of Major V. Bobrov to repel an enemy air raid on July 13, 1944. He was wounded near Lviv in an unequal battle, and his aircraft was set ablaze. Devyatayev managed to evacuate the plane with a parachute in the nick of time. Severely burned, he was captured and sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, and later was transferred to Usedom Island, where a secret Peenemünde testing area was located.
Mikhail Devyatayev, together with several fellow POWs, captured a Nazi Heinkel He 111 H22 bomber and escaped to the Soviet Union on February 8, 1945.
Devyatayev worked at a Kazan river harbor after his rehabilitation. Later, he captained the first Soviet hydrofoil ships
Raketa and
Meteor.
The envelope with an original stamp depicts an emblem of the celebration of the 75
th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945. The main image features a portrait of Mikhail Devyatayev against the background of a Heinkel He 111 H22 bomber and the Gold Star Medal.
Additionally, JSC “Marka” will manufacture a special cancellation postmark for Kazan.
Design: A. Moskovets (emblem), R. Komsa (illustration)
Circulation: 1,000,000 copies.
July 8, an envelope with an original stamp dedicated to the 10th anniversary all-Russian holiday of the Day of Family, Love and Faithfulness to be issued
The Day of Family, Love and Faithfulness has been celebrated in Russia on July 8 since 2008. The idea of a wide celebration was supported by the Russian Orthodox Church, many public organizations and statesmen. The organizing committee of the celebration was headed by Svetlana Medvedeva, Foundation for Social and Cultural Initiatives President. This holiday is becoming increasingly popular in the country over time.
Various festive programs, such as concerts, and congratulations to families with a large number of children and spouses who have lived together for more than 25 years, take place in Russian cities.
The symbol of the Family Day is a chamomile, a field flower, the most widespread this time of year in Russia, which symbolizes dreams of love and faithfulness. The main events of this day are traditionally held in Murom, the historic homeland of the holiday. Here, theater performances are organized, scenes from the lives of St Peter and Fevronia are reconstructed, and master classes on rare crafts are held. Guests and residents of the city visit fairs and amusement parks, and take part in animation programs.
The envelope with an original stamp bears several images. The original stamp features the emblem of the holiday, and the main image depicts a family in a chamomile field.
Additionally, JSC “Marka” will manufacture special cancellation postmarks for Murom, Vladimir Oblast.
Design: A. Moskovets.
Circulation: 1,000,000 copies.
July 10, a souvenir sheet dedicated to Kaliningrad Oblast to be issued as part of the Coat of Arms of Constituent Territories and Cities of the Russian Federation series
The coat of arms of Kaliningrad Oblast was adopted on June 8, 2006. It is a heraldic shield divided into two parts. There is an image of a silver serrated fortress wall with an open gate and two silver crenellated towers emerging from the wall in the red upper field. There is the monogram of Empress Elizabeth of Russia of the middle of the 18
th century in the shield between the towers. The lower undulating extremity is azure with five golden circles. The coat of arms is capped with an amber crown and framed by a ribbon of the Order of Lenin.
The coat of arms of Kaliningrad was approved on July 17, 1996. The coat of arms bears fragments of the old coat of arms of Königsberg. There is a silver ship with one sail and a two-pointed silver pendant with an azure St Andrew’s Cross on a mast sprouting below by three green leaves in the azure field. Golden bezantas decreasing to the edges laid in a wavy belt are depicted in the extremity. The shield is framed by a ribbon of the Medal for the Capture of Königsberg. A sailboat on the coat of arms of Kaliningrad symbolizes the connection of the enclave territory of Kaliningrad with the rest of Russia.
The postage stamp depicts the coat of arms of Kaliningrad, and the souvenir sheet margins feature the coat of arms of Kaliningrad Oblast and a map of the Russian Federation.
Additionally, JSC “Marka” will manufacture first day covers and special cancellation postmarks for Moscow and Kaliningrad.
Design: A. Moskovets.
Face value: 60 RUB.
Size of souvenir sheet: 90×60 mm, size of stamp in sheet: 30×42 mm.
Circulation: 85,000 copies.
July 12, a souvenir sheet dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Bakhchysarai Historical, Cultural and Archeological Museum Reserve to be issued
The Bakhchysarai Historical, Cultural and Archeological Museum Reserve is one of the best-known and visited places in Crimea. Opened on November 16, 1917, it was the first national museum of Crimean Tatar.
The museum reserve was founded with the aim to preserve historical and cultural legacy of mountainous regions of south-western Crimea within the boundaries of Bakhchysarai District. There are 118 monuments of history and architecture and more than 140,000 museum exhibits on display. The reserve comprises several museums — the Museum of Crimean Tatar History and Culture (the Hansaray), the Museum of Archeology and Cave Cities, the Memorial House of Ismail Gasprinski, and the Art Museum, as well as cave cities of Chufut-Kale, Mangup, Eski Kermen and others.
The souvenir sheet bears an image of the Hansaray.
Additionally, JSC “Marka” will manufacture an illustrated cover with the souvenir sheet and first day covers with cancellation (Moscow and Bakhchysarai, Republic of Crimea) inside, as well as a stamp booklet.
Design: S. Sviridov.
Face value: 100 RUB.
Size of souvenir sheet: 115×80 mm, size of stamp in sheet: 30×42 mm.
Circulation: 65,000 copies.
July 13, a postcard with an original stamp dedicated to Gonets personal satellite communication system to be issued as part of Space Conquest series
Gonets is a Russian multi-functional system of personal satellite communication based on low-orbital space vehicles.
The system’s main goal is to provide communication to areas beyond landline GSM coverage, communication media to Russian GLONASS satellite navigation system and communication to fixed and mobile users in hard-to-reach regions. Currently,
Gonets offers such services as global exchange of messages between the system users, transmitting positioning data received from GLONASS, broadcasting messages to a users group, transmitting telemetric information on the controlled objects to monitoring centers, and building departmental communication subsystems. The system’s main users are the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM, Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring of Russia, Federal Agency for Fishery and other stats bodies.
The postcard with an original stamp depicts a symbolic image of a carrier rocket being launched into space. The main image depicts the
Gonets-M space vehicles orbiting the Earth.
Additionally, JSC “Marka” will manufacture special cancellation postmarks for Zheleznogorsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai and Baikonur post office.
Design: A. Drobyshev (stamp), R. Komsa (illustration).
Circulation: 30,000 copies.
July 20, a postcard with an original stamp dedicated to Rostov-on-Don, a 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ Host City, to be issued
The 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ will be the 21
st edition of the tournament and is set to take place from 14 June until 15 July 2018. For the first time in history, Russia will host the FIFA World Cup™, and it will also be the first time the tournament is held simultaneously across two continents — Europe and Asia.
Founded on December 15, 1749, Rostov-on-Don is the largest city in the south of the Russian Federation. It is a large administrative, cultural, scientific, educational and industrial center, as well as an important transport hub of the Russian south currently. The city was conferred an honorary title of a City of Military Glory in 2008.
The postcard with an original stamp bears several images. The original stamp depicts the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ Official Emblem and a scene from a game. The main image features the
Tachanka Monument and the city embankment panorama.
Additionally, JSC “Marka” will manufacture a special cancellation postmark for Rostov-on-Don.
Design: O. Pryadkina.
Circulation: 40,000 copies.
July 21, a postage stamp dedicated to 225th birth anniversary of Pyotr Vyazemsky to be issued
Pyotr Andreevich Vyazemsky (1792–1878) was a poet, historian, first Chairman of the Imperial Russian Historical Society. He was born in Moscow on July 23, 1792. During the Patriotic War of 1812, Pyotr Vyazemsky joined the militia and participated in the Battle of Borodino; he was appointed an official for foreign correspondence in Warsaw in 1817. He became Minister for National Education in 1855. He headed the General Directorate of Censorship and supervised the preparation of the censorship reform in 1856–1858. He became the Hofmeister of the Court of His Imperial Majesty in 1861, and he became a member of the State Council and the Cup-bearer of the Court of His Imperial Majesty in 1866.
Pyotr Vyazemsky became one of the founders and the first Chairman of the Russian Historical Society in 1866. His memoir articles and documents were published in the
Russkiy Arkhiv (“Russian Archive”). He engaged in historical and literary work contrasting the formal and aesthetic analysis of a writer’s works with its historical, cultural and biographical study. In his
Old Notebook, Pyotr Vyazemsky collected interesting recollections relating to the persons and events of the high society of the late 18
th and early 19
th centuries, and also left a number of small monographs devoted to the people most dear to him. The
Old Notebook by Pyotr Vyazemsky is a comprehensive chronicle of Russian and foreign life. It was published in 3 volumes after his death and reprinted in 2003.
The postage stamp depicts a portrait of Pyotr Vyazemsky against the background of one of his manuscripts.
Additionally, JSC “Marka” will manufacture a first day cover and special cancellation postmark for Moscow.
Design: I. Uliyanovskiy.
Face value: 22 RUB.
Size of stamp: 50×37 mm, size of sheet: 180×188 mm.
Form of issue: sheet with illustrated margins of 11 (3×4) stamps and a coupon.
Circulation: 231,000 stamps each (21,000 sheets).
July 25, a souvenir sheet dedicated to the 200th birth anniversary of Ivan Aivazovsky to be issued
Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (1817‒1900) was a Russian painter, art patron, professor, academician and an honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Arts. He was born in Feodosia on July 29, 1817. He founded an art school and a gallery there, which now boasts the most complete collection of the painter’s works.
The artist mainly painted seascapes during his trips to England, Spain, Germany, Africa, America and Middle East. During his life, he created around 6,000 paintings and won international fame as a marine artist.
Aivazovsky was an art patron and used his fortune generously for charitable purposes. He gave money to build an archeological museum in Feodosia and for many urban development works.
The postage stamp features the
Entrance to Sevastopol Bay (1852) painting by Ivan Aivazovsky, and the souvenir sheets margins bear a portrait of the artist
Additionally, JSC “Marka” will manufacture first day covers and an illustrated cover with the souvenir sheet and vignettes inside. Special cancellation postmarks for Moscow, Volgograd, and Feodosia, Republic of Crimea, will also be produced.
Design: O. Savina.
Face value: 95 RUB.
Size of souvenir sheet: 98×92 mm, size of stamp in sheet: 45×37 mm.
Circulation: 70,000 copies.
July 26, en envelope with an original stamp dedicated to the Solovetsky Sea Cadet School of the USSR Navy to be issued as part of the To the 75th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945 series
In May 1942, Admiral Nikolai Kuznetsov, the People’s Commissar of the USSR Navy, ordered a naval cadet school be established on the Solovetsky Islands as part of the training detachment of the Soviet Northern Fleet. The school recruited 14- and 15-year-old teenage Komsomol members.
Apart from studying the specialist trades and teaching naval science, much attention was paid to general education subjects. Work on military and patriotic education of future seamen was constantly carried out.
The cadets studied at the school for 12 months, after which they went on to serve in the Navy. They were enlisted in the staff on their full age. They became the youngest professionally trained war participants, who rose to defend their native country with arms in their hands.
The school trained 4 111 radio operators, helmsmen, boatswains, mechanics, and electricians in three graduating classes of 1942–1944. One in four graduates was killed in fights for the Motherland.
The envelope with an original stamp features an emblem of the celebration of the 75
th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945. The main image depicts a scene of boat drill.
Additionally, JSC “Marka” will manufacture a special cancellation postmark for Solovetsky, Arkhangelsk Oblast.
Design: A. Moskovets (emblem), R. Komsa (illustration)
Circulation: 1,000,000 copies.
July 28, a souvenir sheet dedicated to the 525th anniversary of Ivangorod Fortress to be issued
Ivangorod Fortress was erected on the right bank of the Narva River in summer 1492 to protect Novgorod lands from the western neighbors. Named in honor of Ivan III, Ivangorod became a Russian outpost at the border with Livonia, in a place where Hermann Castle, a Danish fortress later expanded and strengthened by the Livonian Order, had been present on the left bank of the river since the 13
th century. The fortress became not only a solid defense at the north-western borders of the Russian state but also an important strategic base in a struggle for an access to the Baltic Sea.
Throughout its history, Ivangorod withstood numerous attacks by foreign invaders; it was also in the hands of Swedes for a long time. The fortress was heavily damaged during the Great Patriotic War. After Ivangorod was captured, two concentration camps for prisoners of war were established there. The Nazi blew up the six main towers, several parts of the defensive wall and inner buildings before retreating.
The fortress is now a museum and cultural center of Ivangorod, where excursions are arranged, and regional and local events take place. Thanks to restoration works, one can again feast their eyes on the fortress’s awe-inspiring beauty, just like several centuries ago.
Additionally, JSC “Marka” will manufacture an illustrated cover with the souvenir sheet and first day covers with cancellation (Moscow and Ivangorod, Leningrad Oblast) inside.
Design: S. Ulyanovskiy.
Face value: 90 RUB.
Size of souvenir sheet: 105×60 mm, size of stamp in sheet: 42×30 mm.
Circulation: 60,000 copies.
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