On December 9, an official ceremony took place of special cancellation of a stamp dedicated to Hero of the Russian Federation, Colonel Vasily Chubenko

The event was attended by Colonel General Viktor Strigunov, the First Deputy Director of the Federal Service of National Guard Troops of the Russian Federation, the Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard Troops of the Russian Federation; Colonel General Alexander Popov, the Commander of the Central District of the National Guard Troops of the Russian Federation; Colonel Alexey Fomin, a Hero of Russia; Oleg Dukhovnitsky, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of JSC Marka, a Full State Counselor 1st Class of the Russian Federation; and Colonel-General Anatoly Shkirko, a Member of the Board of All-Russian Non-Governmental Organization Association of Veterans of Hostilities of Internal Affairs Bodies and Internal Troops of Russia.

From December 2004, Colonel Vasily E. Chubenko was in service in the North Caucasus in the position of the Internal Troops operational team Headquarters Commander in the Republic of Dagestan. He organized and executed 22 special operations. On July 26, 2005, an armed gang staged a ground bomb explosion in Khasavyurt. Vasily Chubenko, having arrived at the scene, arranged protection and engineering reconnaissance of the area that resulted in detection of two more bombs. Besides, Chubenko ordered to block the roads from the city to prevent the armed insurgents from escaping. The colonel in person arrived to the Khasavyurt - Leninaul road, where in the evening of the same day, the insurgents attempted to cut their way through the roadblock. During the fight, Colonel Chubenko was mortally wounded. In accordance with Presidential Decree of October 1, 2005, for the courage and heroism in the performance of military duty in the North Caucasus region, Colonel Vasily Chubenko was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation (posthumously).

Starting from 2012, JSC Marka has been annually issuing postage stamps of the Heroes of the Russian Federation series as a tribute and a token of thanks to Russian soldiers and officers for the accomplished feats. The common features of all the people whom these issues are devoted to are great courage, honor, a sense of duty and endless bravery, which forced them to perform a feat in the name of their people and Motherland. The feats of Heroes of the Russian Federation will always remain in the memory of their relatives, fellow officers and friends and will be written in the history of philately of the Russian Federation.

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