On July 20, a postage stamp dedicated to the 350th Birth Anniversary of diplomat Boris Kurakin was put into postal circulation in the History of Russian Diplomacy series

Prince Boris Kurakin (1676–1727) was a close associate and brother-in-law of Peter I, the first permanent ambassador of Russia abroad; a Full Privy Councillor. He was born on July 20 of 1676 in the family of Prince Ivan Grigoryevich, a progeny of the Gediminovich dynasty, and Feodosia Alekseyevna, née Princess Odoevskaya; he was a godson of Tsar Fyodor Alekseyevich. From 1683, he was a member of the immediate circle of Peter I. With the formation of the ‘amusement regiments’, he served in the Semyonovsky Regiment; in the composition of the Regiment, he took part in both Azov campaigns, first as a lieutenant and, from 1696, as a captain. In 1696, he was sent to Italy to study naval affairs, fortification and mathematics. Upon his return from the second Azov campaign, whilst en route to Voronezh, Tsar Peter I granted Boris lands on the Belaya River, a tributary of the Aidar River, where the settlement of Belo-Kurakino later arose – nowadays, the village of Belokurakino in the Lugansk Region.

With the outbreak of the Great Northern War, he took part in the military campaign to the vicinities of Narva, then participated in the siege and capture of Noteburg, Nienchanz, and Narva; in 1703, he was promoted to major in the Semyonovsky Life Guards Regiment. In 1705–1706, he was abroad for medical treatment and visited Germany, the Netherlands, and England. Upon his return to Zholkva on January 19, 1707, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the Semyonovsky Life Guards Regiment and, in the same year, was sent to Italy on a diplomatic mission - to insist on the Pope’s non-recognition of Stanisław Leszczyński as King of Poland. With the start of the campaign of Charles XII against Russia in 1708, he returned to the army to command the Semyonovsky and Astrakhan regiments in Prince A. Menshikov’s division; in 1709, he commanded the Semyonovsky Regiment in the Battle of Poltava.

From 1709 to 1712, B. Kurakin served as representative of Russia in London, Hanover, and the Hague; in 1713, having been appointed Full Privy Councillor, he took part in the Congress of Utrecht as Russia’s plenipotentiary; in 1715, he signed the Treaty of Greifswald with Hanover. Beginning with 1716, he served as Ambassador to Paris. By a Royal rescript dated September 14 of 1714, he was promoted from the rank of Guards lieutenant-colonel to that of major-general. In 1717, he was awarded the Order of St Andrew the Apostle the First-Called; on August 30 of 1725, he became a Knight of the Order of St Alexander Nevsky; on November 14 of 1725, he was appointed a Full Privy Councillor. In 1722, Peter the Great, setting out on his campaign against Persia, entrusted him with the leadership of all Russian ambassadors accredited to European courts.

The postage stamp provides a portrait of Boris Kurakin with the Twelve Collegia building in St. Petersburg in the background.

In addition to the issue of the postage stamp, JSC Marka produced First Day Covers and special cancels for Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Penza.


Design Artist: R. Komsa.
Face value: 80 rubles.
Stamp size: 37×37 mm, sheet size: 130×104 mm.
Emission form: a sheet with formatted margins with 6 (3×2) stamps.
Quantity: 42 thousand stamps (7 thousand sheets).

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