Alexey Borisovich Bukhanov (1965–2003) was a major of the RF Ministry of Internal Affairs, participant in the Second Chechen War, posthumous Hero of the Russian Federation (2004).
Alexey Bukhanov was born on 18 January 1965 in Smolensk into a family of office workers. In 1984–1986, Bukhanov served in the Soviet Army Corps of Engineers. Starting from November 1995 Alexey Bukhanov was on active military duty at a special operations unit of the Smolensk Oblast Directorate of Internal Affairs at the Russian Ministry of the Interior. He served five tours of duty in Chechnya and participated in combat operations at the Second Chechen War. By August 2003 Police Major Alexey Bukhanov had become the principal officer of the special operations unit of the Smolensk Oblast Directorate of the Internal Affairs.
On 13 August 2003, a column of combat vehicles screened by his group, was caught in an ambush of Chechen separatists. Under enemy fire, Alexey Bukhanov pulled out two wounded soldiers from a damaged armoured personnel carrier, gave them first aid and hid them in the road ditch. When a militant fired a grenade, Alexey Bukhanov shielded a wounded Federal Security Service officer and was killed in the explosion. He was buried at the Smolensk Bratskoe Cemetery.
By the RF Presidential Decree of 28 July 2004 “for his line-of-duty courage and heroism”, Police Major Alexey Bukhanov was posthumously awarded the title of the Hero of the Russian Federation.
The postage stamp depicts Alexey Bukhanov’s portrait and the Gold Star medal.
In addition to the postage stamp, JSC Marka has produced an FDC and special cancellation postmarks for Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
Design: А. Drobyshev.
Face value: 22 RUB.
Size of stamp: 42×30 mm; size of sheet: 104×110 mm.
Form of issue: sheets with illustrated margins of 5 (2×3) stamps and a coupon.
Circulation: 115 thousand stamps (23 thousand sheets).
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