Russia

Miscellaneous from October 2022

by Richard Zimmermann

Marci Jarvis (USA) could provide additional information related to the Tiger Forum joint issue from September 5, 2022. Indeed, Laos issued two stamps representing felines (Clouded leopard and Asian golden cat) but no tiger, however with the forum logo. These two stamps became also available in a special souvenir sheet which is illustrated with a tiger and a cub. Stamps in panes and souvenir sheets are available as perforated and imperforated. The date of issue of the Laos stamps is September 1, 2022. In the meantime, we are still missing information from Nepal stamps related to the Tiger forum.

Don Birschel (USA) provided the illustrations of the stamps issued by Cambodia, which, on the contrary to what was reported so far, bear the logo of the forum, in both stamps and souvenir sheet, . These stamps were issued on September 22, 2022.

Med Achour Ali Ahmed (Algeria) reported that the Algeria Post, next to the UPU World Post Day stamp from October 9, 2022 created also a Postage Meter Imprint with the same topic. However, he noticed that the design contains two hashtag addresses that are erroneous. Hashtags are reference words that allow to find all the information that was exchanged using this specific word. However, to be usable, they need to follow precise rules in particular no white space is allowed. In order to separate words, if this is needed, at least a dash or underscore dash has to be used. This rule applies for latin and arabic characters and both hashtags represented in the meter print are wrong and unusable. Corrected hastags are represented here, below the imprint.

Rindert Paalman (The Netherlands) reported the decision taken during the PostEurop General Assembly in Dublin on 5 October 2022. A common design will be used on all 2023 Europa stamps (probably to be released in May 2023) on the theme “PEACE – the highest value of humanity”. 29 entries were submitted for the design competition and 44 postal companies participated in the voting. The winning motif is the one submitted by Luxembourg : “The New Peace Symbol”.

From Kenneth Sequeira (Singapore), a question related to stamps issued by Mongolia on May 19, 2022 and Japan, souvenir sheet with 10 stamps released on June 15, 2022. The topic refers to the 50th anniversary of relationship. As dates of issue are different, design are different and none of the postal administrations are refering to any collaboration in producing these items, we have to consider that these stamps are just celebrating the same event, but these stamps cannot be considered as joint.

From Cesar Ittmann (the Netherlands), reporting about the stamps celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Eurasian Economic Commission. EAU began its operations on February 2, 2012, but the treaty was signed only on May 29, 2014. The five involved countries participated to this issue with different designs, but four of them were released on the same date of issue: Armenia (August 25, 2022), Belarus (August 26, 2022), Kazakhstan (August 26, 2022), Kyrgyzstan (August 26, 2022) and Russia (July 29, 2022). On this basis, this issue has to be reported as a parallel joint issue [P1] under the entry code [P20220826]. The 5th anniversary of the Eurasian Economic Union Treaty (and not operation initiation) was celebrated by the same five countries on August 9, 2019 with identical stamps showing the flags of the countries . It was described in the catalogue under [T20190809].

World Post Day 2022 (2)

by Richard Zimmermann

October 9, 2022, day at which the UPU organized a common issue at the occasion of the World Post Day, was a Sunday. This is not the best day for launching a stamp and we preferred waiting a few days to collect a maximum of information around this issue in order to include also stamps that were released after this official date. We were not disappointed and we received a lot of additional information from our friends Kenneth Sequeira (Dubai), Ali Ahmed Med Achour (Algeria), Don Birschel (USA), Enzo Cafaro (Italy), Kenneth Sequeira (Singapore) and others. Thanks to all of them.

So far (the list is probably not complete), the countries having issued stamps with the UPU design include the followings: Belarus, Bosnia Herzegovina, Cambodia, Croatia, Egypt, Fiji (September 22, release date, but official FDC dated October 9), Russia (October 7), Serbia (October 7), Sri Lanka, , Syria (1 stamp, 1 souvenir sheet), Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey. All these countries have issued one single stamp at the date of October 9, 2022, except otherwise stated.

Algeria (October 9, 2022) participated as well but adapted the design.

National Parks Azerbaijan Russia

by Richard Zimmermann

Discovered by Jaap Sarelse (the Netherlands), a joint issue released on September 16, 2022, between Azerbaijan and Russia we had not seen so far. At the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between both countries, souvenir sheets illustrating the Shirvan National Park (Azerbaijan) and the Samara Luka National Park (Russia) have been issued. The Russian souvenir sheet belongs to the “Natural Heritage of Russia” series. The Azerbaijan souvenir sheet features the goitered gazelle and a bee-eater. The Russian souvenir sheet, with a non rectangular frame,, shows lake and mountains with fox and black-tailed eagle.

International tiger preservation forum (2)

by Richard Zimmermann

The second international tiger preservation forum took place as scheduled on September 5, 2022 and, also as scheduled, most of the participating countries issued at this occasion a stamp related to this forum illustrated with tigers. A first list had been provided earlier. This is now a complementary information page with new details provided mainly by Enzo Cafaro (Italy).

Eventually, 10 countries are participating to this joint parallel issue [P20220905]. Among the 14 countries where tigers still live in the wild, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Russia, Thailand, and Vietnam, we already know that Thailand decided not to participate. No information is available from Bangladesh, Bhutan and Indonesia.

Myanmar, Russia and Vietnam have issued their stamps on September 5, 2022. India issued its stamp already on September 1, 2022, while Cambodia will issue it stamps only on September 22, 2022. Exact dates of issue for Laos, Malaysia, and North Korea are still to be confirmed, but seem to be September 5 as well. In parallel, Russia is preparing a mixed folder containing the mint stamps from (almost) all 10 countries.

Indian stamp pays tribute to ‘Collarwali’, a tigress from Pench Tiger reserve, Madhya Pradesh, who gave birth to 29 cubs in her life time, among which 25 survived to adulthood. She passed away in January 2022.

Below, additional pictures of stamps released or to be released by these countries are depicted.

On September 5, 2022, China PR issued a set of stamps entitled Tiger cultural relics. The 6 stamps represent a) the Shang-Fu double-tailed bronze tiger, b) a spring and autumn jade tiger-shaped pendant, c) the Han Baihu ’tiledang’ with tiger (grey pottery), d) the Bronze Tiger Festival object with Cuojin inscription of Han dynasty, e) a white glaze brown flower crouching tiger pillow and f) a puppet flying tiger. There is no hint about a relationship with the tiger preservation forum, but if no other stamp is issued by China PR, we will have to consider that the stamps released at this same date may be part of the joint issue (same date of issue, same topic). However, more information is needed here.

The site from Yonhap News refers also to another souvenir sheet issued by North Korea on September 5, 2022, next to the souvenir sheet with different 4 stamps. Here also, more details are needed.

Armenia Russia Churches

by Richard Zimmermann

Armenia and Russia celebrated on August 30, 2022 both the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and the 25th anniversary of the treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual assistance. This is a parallel issue scheduled from long date and dedicated to architecture, focusing on churches from both countries.

Stamps are different and represent for Armenia, the Church of St. Catherine in St. Petersburg, Russia and the Saint Michael the Archangel’s Church in Gyumri, Armenia. Russia issued stamps representing the Holy Cross Church in Samara, Russia and the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Vanadzor, Armenia. Both countries have issued their stamps in miniature sheets of 4 pairs of stamps [2px2] in chess board order.

International tiger preservation forum

by Richard Zimmermann

The second International Forum for the Preservation of the Tiger Population is supposed to take place in Vladivostok, Russia, on September 5, 2022. About one year ago, JSC Marka, the Russian postal administration initiated the creation of a joint issue related to this event with all participating countries. Officially, it is announced that 10 countries will participate to this joint issue that is supposed to be released on September 5, 2022, and a few of them have already shown the designs of their stamps.

Taking in account the present international situation, it is time to make some review of the different announcements, but also to use this opportunity to ask the local collectors to provide as much as possible reliable information on top of what is described below. None of the stamp designs seen so far are identical. Most of the information described here has been provided by Enzo Cafaro (Italy).

The forum runs a web site and has a dedicated logo. Decision to held this second international meeting in Vladivostok was taken on September 3, 2019. The 1st International Tiger Forum took place in St. Petersburg on 21–24 November 2010. The Forum web page explains that today, there are only 14 countries where tigers still live in the wild: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Russia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

So first let us start with the countries that have already announced their participation and provided the design of their stamp. Russia is of course the first with a single stamp issued in miniature sheets of 8 stamps and bearing the logo. Vietnam will issue two different stamps, North Korea a souvenir sheet containing a block of 4 different stamps and Malaysia a souvenir sheet with one stamp. All of them will bear the logo but the exact date of issue of September 5, 2022 is only confirmed for Russia, even if JSC Marka claims all participants will release the stamp the same day.

Some other countries have provided the design, but the stamps are missing the logo. We should not forget that the year 2022 is the Chinese Lunar year of the Tiger and dozen of countries have issued stamps depicting tigers, without any link to this forum. So, most of the tiger stamps issued in 2022 are not part of this joint issue. In the following cases, Cambodia (one stamp and one souvenir sheet, available perforated or not, but only one to be confirmed for release on September 5) and Laos (2 stamps) show either within the stamp or within the margins of the miniature or souvenir sheets a text referring to the preservation of the species.

Lastly, there are a few other countries that have been announced by Russia (JSC Marka) as being participant to the joint issue, but have not released information themselve, nor confirmed participation on their side. These countries include China PR, India, Myanmar and Nepal. On top of these ten countries, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Indonesia and Thailand could also participate. Information from these additional countries are also missing.

Roughly, we have now one full month to confirm if this joint issue will really exist and which country will participate. With the information we have collected so far it should become a Parallel [P] issue. Any additional detail is of interest. Thanks in advance.

How about 2022 Russian JIs?

by Richard Zimmermann

The present Ukrainian-Russian political situation affects also stamp collecting. As we have an obligation of neutrality, we shall not give any comment on this situation. The following is just to provide some information about the stamp programs of both countries. Actually, on the contrary to Ukraine, Russia had planned several joint issues for this year 2022, involving different countries.

On April 7, 2022, Russia participated to the officially yearly Joint issue of the RCC Member Countries, illustrated by parks and gardens. Stamps of Russia showed the N. Tsitsin Main Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. Unfortunately, this has to be considered as a standalone issue, as so far, only Belarus issued another different stamp on April 5, 2022. Also, Armenia plans to issue an RCC stamp with garden during the third Quarter. Only the RCC emblem appears on all stamps. As a consequence, these stamps cannot be considered as joint.

The Belarus – Russia joint issue dedicated to the painter V.K. Byalynitski-Biruli on May 22, 2022 was issued as scheduled (see previous post) and was considered as a true twin issue.

The following issues announced in the Russian philatelic program are more doubtful to be released:

Russia plans to release on August 26, 2022 a joint issue with Azerbaijan on the occasion of the 30th Anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, illustrated with art pieces. No information is available from Azerbaijan.

Three days later, on August 29, 2022, Russia intends to release also stamps with Armenia, also on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and the 25th anniversary of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, illustrated with the topic Architecture. These stamps are still in the Armenian philatelic program for 2022, but shifted to Quarter 4.

The international forum for the preservation of the tiger, to be issued on September 5, 2022, as a joint stamp series, is still on the agenda. It si quite difficult to tell if this issue will really be a joint issue. several countries have already issued stamps at the occasion of the Chinese year of the Tiger, but this has nothing to do with this international forum.

The celebration of the twin cities of Zagreb and St Petersburg, so, between Russia and Croatia, originally planned to be released on June 23, 2022, has been postponed to November 23, 2022.

Nothing will guarantee these stamps will be released. We will continue to watch carefully the situation and keep you informed.

Belarus-Russian landscape painter honored

by Richard Zimmermann

Vitold Byalynitskiy-Birulya was a Belarus, Soviet and Russian landscape painter born in the Krynki hamlet of the Mogilev province, on January 12, 1872. He studied first at the Kiev School of Graphic Art, and then at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Vitold Byalynitsky-Birulya painted landscapes almost exclusively, depicting simple, uncomplicated landscapes of the central zone of Russia. In 1904, Byalynitsky-Birulya joined the Itinerants group, and in 1922, the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia. He was a member of the Arkhip Kuinji Society. He died on June 18, 1957, in its datcha near Tver, at age 85. This house became a museum.

On May 17, 2022, Belarus and Russia postal administration decided to celebrate jointly its 150th birthday through the issue of similar souvenir sheets. The frame and margin of the souvenir sheets are similar (portrait of the painter), but the stamps represent two different landscapes.

Mongolia – Russia 2021

by Richard Zimmermann

Robert Schijvers (Mongolia) provided some updated information about recently issued Mongolia stamps: The Mongolia Russia joint issue was released on November 5, 2021, not November 11, with an official opening ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on that Friday, but the Mongolia stamp became available only on November 8, 2021, as the 859th anniversary of Chinggis Khaan’s birthday was also celebrated on November 5. The Mongolia stamp came in a sheetlet of 6 as well as in a souvenir sheet. Russia issued one stamp in miniature sheets of 9.