Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

World War I demonstrated tsarist corruption and inefficiency and only patriotism held the poorly equipped army together for a time. Disorders broke out in Petrograd (renamed Leningrad and now St. Petersburg) in March 1917, and defection of the Petrograd garrison launched the revolution. Nicholas II was forced to abdicate on 15 March 1917, and he and his family were killed by revolutionists on 16 July 1918. A provisional government under the successive premierships of Prince Lvov and a moderate, Alexander Kerensky, lost ground to the radical, or Bolshevik, wing of the Socialist Democratic Labor Party. On 7 November 1917, the Bolshevik revolution, engineered by N. Lenin (Lenin was the pseudonym taken by Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov) and Leon Trotsky, overthrew the Kerensky government and authority was vested in a Council of People's Commissars, with Lenin as premier. The series of events leading to the revolution was from now on as October Revolution, since 7 November was actually 25 October under the Old Russian Calendar.

The humiliating Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (3 March 1918) concluded the war with Germany, but a brutal civil war and foreign intervention delayed Communist control of all Russia until 1920. A brief war with Poland in 1920 resulted in Russian defeat.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was established as a federation on 30 December 1922 and the New Economic Policy started which installed the community (called soviets) as owners of land and property. The death of Lenin on 21 January 1924 precipitated an intraparty struggle between Joseph Stalin, general secretary of the party, and Trotsky, who favored swifter socialization at home and fomentation of revolution abroad. Trotsky was dismissed as commissar of war in 1925 and banished from the Soviet Union in 1929. He was murdered in Mexico City on 21 August 1940 by a political agent. Stalin further consolidated his power by a series of purges in the late 1930s, liquidating prominent party leaders and military officers. Stalin assumed the premiership 6 May 1941.

Soviet foreign policy, at first friendly toward Germany and antagonistic toward Britain and France and then, after Hitler's rise to power in 1933, becoming anti-Fascist and pro-League of Nations, took an abrupt turn on 24 August 1939 with the signing of a nonaggression pact with Nazi Germany. The next month, Moscow joined in the German attack on Poland, seizing territory later incorporated into the Ukrainian and Belarussian S.S.R.'s. The war with Finland (1939-1940) added territory to the Karelian S.S.R. set up 31 March 1940; the annexation of Bessarabia and Bukovina from Romania became part of the new Moldavian S.S.R. on 2 August 1940; and the annexation of the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in June 1940 created the 14th, 15th, and 16th Soviet Republics. The illegal annexation of the Baltic republics was never recognized by the United States for the 51 years leading up to Soviet recognition of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania's independence on 6 September 1991. The Soviet-German collaboration ended abruptly with a lightning attack by Hitler on 22 June 1941 which seized 500.000 square miles of Russian territory before Soviet defences, aided by U.S. and British arms, could halt it. The Soviet resurgence at Stalingrad from November 1942 to February 1943 marked the turning point in a long battle, ending in the final offensive of January 1945. Then, after denouncing a 1941 nonaggression pact with Japan in April 1945, when Allied forces were nearing victory in the Pacific, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan on 8 August 1945, and quickly occupied Manchuria, Karafuto, and the Kuril islands.

The new power in the Kremlin was Nikita S. Khrushchev, first secretary of the party. Khrushchev formalized the Eastern European system into a Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon) and a Warsaw Pact Treaty Organization as a counterweight to NATO. The Soviet Union exploded a hydrogen bomb in 1953, developed an intercontinental ballistic missile by 1957, sent the first satellite into space (Sputnik I) in 1957, and put Yuri Gagarin in the first orbital flight around the earth in 1961. Khrushchev's downfall stemmed from his decision to place Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba and then, when challenged by the U.S., backing down and removing the weapons. He was also blamed for the ideological break with China after 1963. Khrushchev was forced into retirement on 15 October 1964, and was replaced by Leonid I. Brezhnev as first secretary of the party and Aleksei N. Kosygin as premier.

United States President Jimmy Carter and the ailing Brezhnev signed the SALT II treaty in Vienna on 18 June 1979, setting ceilings on each nation's arsenal of intercontinental ballistic missiles. The U.S. Senate refused to ratify the treaty because of the invasion of Afghanistan by Soviet troops on 27 December 1979. On 10 November 1982 Soviet radio and television announced the death of Leonid Brezhnev. Yuri V. Andropov, who had formerly headed the KGB, was chosen to succeed Brezhnev as general secretary. By mid-June 1983, Andropov had assumed all of Brezhnev's three titles.

After months of illness, Andropov died in February 1984. Konstantin U. Chernenko, a 72-year-old party stalwart who had been close to Brezhnev, succeeded him as general secretary and, by mid-April, had also assumed the title of president. In the months following Chernenko's assumption of power, the Kremlin took on a hostile mood toward the West of a kind rarely seen since the height of the cold war 30 years before. Led by Moscow, all the Soviet bloc countries except Romania boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles for the U.S.-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games, in the view of most observers. After 13 months in office, Chernenko died on 10 March 1985. He had been ill much of the time and left only a minor imprint on Soviet history.

Chosen to succeed him as Soviet leader was Mikhail S. Gorbachev, at 54 the youngest man to take charge of the Soviet Union since Stalin. Under Gorbachev, the Soviet Union began its long-awaited shift to a new generation of leadership. Unlike his immediate predecessors, Gorbachev did not also assume the title of president but wielded power from the post of party general secretary. In a surprise move, Gorbachev elevated Andrei Gromyko, 75, for 28 years the Soviet Union's stony-faced foreign minister, to the largely ceremonial post of president. He installed a younger man with no experience in foreign affairs, Eduard Shevardnadze, 57, as foreign minister. The Soviet Union took much criticism in early 1986 over the 24 April meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear plant and its reluctance to give out any information on the accident.

In June 1987 Gorbachev obtained the support of the Central Committee for proposals that would loosen some government controls over the economy and in June 1988, an unusually open party conference approved several resolutions for changes in the structure of the Soviet system. These included a shift of some power from the party to local soviets, and a ten-year limit on the terms of elected government and party officials. Gorbachev was elected president in 1989. The elections to the Congress were the first competitive elections in the Soviet Union since 1917. Dissident candidates won a surprisingly large minority although pro-Government deputies maintained a strong lock on the Supreme Soviet.

The possible beginning of the fragmentation of the Communist Party and the Soviet era took place when Boris Yeltsin, leader of the Russian S.S.R. who urged faster reform, left the Communist Party along with other radicals. In March 1991, the Soviet people were asked to vote on a referendum on national unity engineered by President Gorbachev. The resultant victory for the federal government was tempered by the separate approval in Russia for the creation of a popularly elected presidency of the Russian republics. The bitter election contest for the Russian presidency, principally between Yeltsin and a Communist loyalist, resulted in a major victory for Yeltsin. He took the oath of office for the new position on 10 July 1991.

Reversing his relative hard-line position, Gorbachev together with leaders of nine Soviet republics signed an accord called the Union Treaty, which was meant to preserve the unity of the nation. In exchange the federal government would have turned over control of industrial and natural resources to the individual republics. An attempted coup d'état took place on 19 August 1991, orchestrated by a group of eight senior officials calling itself the State Committee on the State of Emergency. Boris Yeltsin, barricaded in the Russian parliament building, defiantly called for a general strike. The next day huge crowds demonstrated in Leningrad, and Yeltsin supporters fortified barricades surrounding the parliament building. On 21 August the coup committee disbanded, and at least some of its members attempted to flee Moscow. The Soviet parliament formally reinstated Gorbachev as president. Two days later he resigned from his position as General-Secretary of the Communist Party and recommended that its Central Committee be disbanded. On 29 August the parliament approved the suspension of all Communist Party activities pending an investigation of its role in the failed coup. At the time of the attempted coup, the republic's President Boris Yeltsin was the most popular political figure in the lands comprising the former Soviet Union. A leading reformer, he became the first directly elected leader in Russian history and received 60% of the vote for president of the Russian Republic.

Yeltsin championed the cause for national reconstruction and the adoption of a Union Treaty with the other republics to create a free-market economic association. On 12 December 1991, the Russian parliament ratified Yeltsin's plea to establish a new commonwealth of independent nations open to all former members of the Soviet Union. The new union was created with the governments of Ukraine and Belarus who along with Russia were the three original cofounders of the Soviet Union in 1922. After the end of the Soviet Union, Russia and ten other Soviet republics joined in a Commonwealth of Independent States on 21 December 1991. On 25 December Gorbachev resigned, and on midnight of 31 December 1991 the Soviet flag atop the Kremlin was replaced by the Russian tricolour.

Capital: Moscow

Government: Federation of Soviet Republics

Area: 22.402.200 km²

Population: 293.047.571 (July 1991)

Currency: Soviet ruble (100 kopeks)

UN country code:

Internet TLD: .su

Dialling code: +7

Member of: League of Nations 18 September 1934 - 14 December 1939

United Nations 24 October 1945

UNCTAD 1964

Economic Commission for Europe 28 March 1947

ICAO 14 November 1970

ILO 18 September 1934 - 14 December 1939 and from 26 April 1954

IMO 24 December 1958

ITU 1 January 1866 (as Russia)

UNESCO 21 April 1954

UNIDO 21 June 1985

UPU 1 July 1875 (as Russia)

WHO 24 March 1948

WIPO 26 April 1970

WMO 2 April 1948

UNWTO 1975

IAEA 1957

For more stamps see:

Russia

Links

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in Wikipedia.

Flag of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in Flags of the World.

A country study for researchers by the United States Library of Congress.

Stamp catalogue

UPU Administrative Conference on Air Mail, The Hague

date: 1 September 1927

designer: Olga Amosova

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12½:12

sheet: 80 (5 x 8 + 5 x 8)

remark: air mail

1 10 kop. air plane Tupolev ANT-3, world map, text (transcr.) "1st INTERNATIONAL / AIR MAIL CONFERENCE"

ultramarine, brown

(cat. Michel 326/SG 499/Yvert PA 17)

2 15 kop. air plane Tupolev ANT-3, world map, text (transcr.) "1st INTERNATIONAL / AIR MAIL CONFERENCE"

red, olive

(cat. Michel 327/SG 500/Yvert PA 18)

Second International Polar Year

date: 26 August 1932

designer: Ivan Dubasov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12½; exists in 10½ and 10½:12 (only 50 kop)

sheet: 75 (5 x 15)

remarks: the stamps were to be used for the first flight from Franz-Josef Land to Archangelsk, but the flight

failed to take place; air mail express stamps

3 50 kop. air plane over ice breaker, map of the North Pole, hammer and sickle, text "2ME ANNÉE POLAIRE

INTERNATIONALE 1932-33" (also in Russian)

carmine

(cat. Michel 410/SG /Yvert )

4 1 rub. air plane over ice breaker, map of the North Pole, hammer and sickle, text "2ME ANNÉE POLAIRE

INTERNATIONALE 1932-33" (also in Russian)

green

(cat. Michel 411/SG /Yvert )

Tehran Conference

date: 25 November 1943

designer: Georgiy Echeistov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12½

sheet size: 100 (10 x 10)

remark: stamps exits in different shades of brown and indigo

5 30 kop. plaque with text by Stalin, flags of the Soviet Union, United Kingdom and United States

red, blue, grey-brown

(cat. Michel 890/SG 1040/Yvert 913)

6 3 rub. plaque with text by Stalin, flags of the Soviet Union, United Kingdom and United States

red, blue, indigo

(cat. Michel 891/SG 1041/Yvert 914)

UPU 75th anniversary

date: 5 October 1949

designer: Vasily Zavyalov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: imperforated

sheet: 72 (8 x 9)

7 40 kop. globe with USSR and Moscow on it, letters, post coach, airplane, ship, train, text and "1874-1949"

deep blue, orange-brown

(cat. Michel 1383 B/SG 1523 b/Yvert -)

8 50 kop. globe with USSR and Moscow on it, letters, post coach, airplane, ship, train, text and "1874-1949"

greyish violet, deep blue

(cat. Michel 1384 B/SG 1524 b/Yvert -)

UPU 75th anniversary

date: 10 October 1949

designer: Vasily Zavyalov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12½

sheet: 72 (8 x 9)

9 40 kop. globe with USSR and Moscow on it, letters, post coach, airplane, ship, train, text and "1874-1949"

deep blue, orange-brown

(cat. Michel 1383 A/SG 1523 a/Yvert 1366)

10 50 kop. globe with USSR and Moscow on it, letters, post coach, airplane, ship, train, text and "1874-1949"

greyish violet, deep blue

(cat. Michel 1384 A/SG 1524 a/Yvert 1367)

International Letter Writing Week

date: 26 September 1957

designer: Viktor Pimenov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12:12½ ; nr. 11 exists with perforation 12½

sheet: 98 (7 x 14)

11 40 k pigeon with letter, globe

blue

(cat. Michel 1990/SG 2121/Yvert 1969)

12 60 k pigeon with letter, globe

purple

(cat. Michel 1991/SG 2122/Yvert 1970)

Universal Declaration of Human Rights 10th anniversary

date: 5 November 1958

designer: G. Chuchelov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12:12½

sheet: 50 (5 x 10)

13 60 k text, torch and book, family, industry and dove

blue, black, pale buff

(cat. Michel 2168/SG 2287/Yvert 2110)

International Letter Writing Week

date: 29 September 1959

designer: Vasily Zavyalov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12:12½

sheet: 25 (5 x 5)

14 40 k post woman delivering letter, modern means of transport, emblem, text

grey, black, rose-lilac

(cat. Michel 2268/SG 2380/Yvert 2224)

International Letter Writing Week

date: 30 September 1959

designer: Vasily Zavyalov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12:12½

sheet: 25 (5 x 5)

15 60 k post woman delivering letter, modern means of transport, emblem, text

grey, black, blue

(cat. Michel 2269/SG 2381/Yvert 2225)

Let us beat swords into ploughshares

date: 8 March 1960

designer: I. Levin

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12:12½

sheet: 25 (5 x 5)

16 40 k. statue 'Let us beat swords into ploughshares' by Evgeny Vuchetich, text

yellow, bistre-brown, greenish blue

(cat. Michel 2326/SG 2423/Yvert 2265)

5th World Forestry Congress, Seattle

date: 29 August 1960

designer: V. Antipenko

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12½

sheet: 25 (5 x 5)

17 1 rub. oil painting by Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin 'The Mast-tree Grove' (1898), The State Russian Museum,

St. Petersburg, Russia

reddish brown

(cat. Michel 2384/SG 2482/Yvert 2326)

International Letter Writing Week

date: 10 September 1960

designer: S. Pomansky

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12:12½

sheet: 25 (5 x 5)

18 40 kop. hand writing letter, globe, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 2388/SG 2483/Yvert 2327)

19 60 kop. hand writing letter, globe, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 2389/SG 2484/Yvert 2328)

UNO 15th anniversary

date: 8 October 1960

designer: I. Levin

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: imperforated

size: 77 x 115 mm

20 souvenir sheet, text by Khrushchev, parliament building, olive branch

40 k. statue 'Let us beat swords into ploughshares' by Evgeny Vuchetich, text

yellow, bistre-brown, greenish blue

(cat. Michel Block 29/SG -/Yvert BF 30)

International Labour Exhibition, Turin

date: 24 May 1961

designer: Viktor Pimenov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12½

sheet: 64 (8 x 8)

21 4 k sculpture 'To the stars' by Grigoriy Postnikov (1914-1978), text "ESPOSIZIONE / INTERNAZIONALE DEL

LAVORNO" (also in Russian)

salmon, brown-red

(cat. Michel 2482/SG 2581/Yvert )

22 6 k portrait of Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882), signature, text "ESPOSIZIONE / INTERNAZIONALE DEL

LAVORNO" (also in Russian)

salmon, reddish lilac

(cat. Michel 2483/SG 2582/Yvert )

Patrice Lumumba

date: 29 May 1961

designer: S. Sokolov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12½:12

sheet: 25 (5 x 5)

23 2 kop. portrait, text "PATRICE LUMUMBA" (in Russian)

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 2487/SG 2593/Yvert 2422)

Let us beat swords into ploughshares - reprint

date: 15 August 1961

designer: Vasily Zavyalov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12½:12

sheet: 25 (5 x 5)

remark: part of a series of four stamps to commemorate 40 years of Soviet postage stamps;

nr. 24 exists with perforation 12½, issued 15 August 1961

24 6 kop. USSR stamps symbolizing peace, crowd with red flags, telegraph building Moscow, text

multicoloured, frame green and olive

(cat. Michel 2519/SG 2620/Yvert )

International Letter Writing Week

date: 15 September 1961

designer: N. Kruglov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

sheet: 50 (5 x 10)

25 4 kop. letters, means of transport, text

deep magenta, black

(cat. Michel 2528/SG 2625/Yvert 2456)

The World United Against Malaria

date: 6 May 1962

designer: Yevgeniy Aniskin

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

sheet: 50 (5 x 10)

26 4 k. emblem, mosquito, text

black, turquoise-blue, red

(cat. Michel 2599/SG 2687/Yvert 2519)

The World United Against Malaria

date: 23 June 1962

designer: Yevgeniy Aniskin

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½ (22) and imperforated (23)

sheet: 50 (5 x 10)

27 6 k. emblem, mosquito, text

black, olive-green, red

(cat. Michel 2610 A/SG 2688/Yvert 2519A)

28 6 k. emblem, mosquito, text

black, olive-green, red

(cat. Michel 2610 B/SG 2688/Yvert 2519Aa)

Atoms for Peace

date: 15 August 1962

designer: I. Levin

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12½:12

sheet: 20 (4 x 5)

29 4 kop atomic symbol, Lomonosov University building, science symbols

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 2638/SG 2727/Yvert 2547)

30 6 k atomic model, map of the USSR, text "PEACE" in ten languages

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 2639/SG 2728/Yvert 2548)

International Letter Writing Week

date: 25 September 1962

designer: Leo Sharov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

sheet: 50 (5 x 10)

remarks: stamp exists with two shades of magenta; second shade is fluorescent;

stamp exists on a light pink paper

31 4 k. postmark with Moscow general post office, means of transport, stamp

black, magenta, turquoise

(cat. Michel 2649/SG 2738/Yvert 2565)

World Health Day

date: 7 April 1963

designer: Lesegri

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12½:12

sheet: 25 (5 x 5)

remark: nr. 34 exists on light pink paper

32 2 k woman and lido, text (transcr.) "Everyone has the right to recreation"

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 2744/SG 2840/Yvert 2653)

33 4 k man and stadium, text (transcr.) "We have the shortest working hours"

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 2745/SG 2841/Yvert 2654)

34 10 k child and school, text (transcr.) "We have the healthiest children in the world"

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 2746/SG 2842/Yvert 2655)

International Letter Writing Week

date: 20 September 1963

designer: Yuri Ryakhovsky

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

sheet: 50 (5 x 10)

remark: stamp exists on a light pink paper

35 4 kop. letters, globe, means of transport

bluish violet, orange, black

(cat. Michel 2805/SG 2898/Yvert 2716)

Pasteur Institute, Paris

date: 28 October 1963

designer: Yevgeniy Aniskin

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12½

sheet: 25 (5 x 5)

36 4 k portrait of Ilya Mechnikov (1845-1916), bacteriologist, first Pasteur Institute building, text

green, bistre

(cat. Michel 2820/SG 2910/Yvert 2732)

37 6 k portrait of Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), chemist, Pasteur Institute building, text

bright reddish violet, bistre

(cat. Michel 2821/SG 2911/Yvert 2733)

38 12 k portrait of Albert Calmette (1863-1933), bacteriologist, BCG vaccine, laboratory building, text

blue, bistre

(cat. Michel 2822/SG 2912/Yvert 2734)

Universal Declaration of Human Rights 15th anniversary

date: 30 December 1963

designer: I. Levin

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12:12½

sheet: 25 (5 x 5)

remark: stamp exists on a light pink paper

39 6 k flame, broken chain, globe, rainbow, UN emblem, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 2860/SG 2941/Yvert 2766)

Jawaharlal Nehru

date: 20 August 1964

designer: S. Sokolov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

sheet: 50 (10 x 5)

40 4 k portrait

black, brown, slate

(cat. Michel 2941/SG 3027/Yvert 2850)

International Letter Writing Week

date: 24 September 1964

designer: Igor Kominarets

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12½:12

sheet: 35 (5 x 7)

41 4 k letters, globe, text

bright purple, blue, yellow-brown

(cat. Michel 2959/SG 3038/Yvert 2861)

ITU Centenary

date: 6 March 1965

designer: I. Levin

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12½:12

sheet: 50 (5 x 10)

remark: stamp also exists without a point after the letter "k" in the value 6 k

42 6 k UIT emblem, antennas, telephone dial, morse code

bright greenish blue, deep mauve

(cat. Michel 3031/SG 3104/Yvert 2928)

International Co-operation Year

date: 15 June 1965

designer: Yevgeniy Aniskin

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12½:12

sheet: 25 (5 x 5)

43 4 k international co-operation in space, USA and USSR satellites, globe, stars

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 3076/SG 3144/Yvert 2968)

44 6 k peaceful use of outer space, stars, Sputnik, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 3077/SG 3145/Yvert 2969)

45 6 k 10 years of co-operation between USSR and India, foundry ladle, iron works, map of India, text

(cat. Michel 3078/SG 3146/Yvert 2970)

2nd International Oceanographic Congress, Moscow

date: 23 February 1966

designer: Viktor Pimenov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

sheet: 50 (5 x 10)

46 6 k congress emblem, research vessels

black, greenish blue

(cat. Michel 3186/SG 3243/Yvert 3059)

International Hydrological Decade

date: 12 October 1966

designer: B. Trifonov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

sheet: 20 (4 x 5)

47 6 k IHD emblem, clouds, rain, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 3275/SG 3343/Yvert 3152)

International Tourist Year

date: 10 March 1967

designer: Yuri Ryakhovsky

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11¼

40 4 kop emblem, car, ship, mountaineers, text "ANNEE INTERNATIONALE DU TOURISME 1967" (also in Russian)

black, silver, greenish blue

(cat. Michel 3334/SG 3398/Yvert 3211)

Consultative Committee for Postal Studies meeting, Moscow

date: 30 June 1968

designer: Yuri Levinovsky

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12¼:12

41 6 k emblem, 16th century post rider, text

brown-red, greenish grey

(cat. Michel 3508/SG 3571/Yvert 3367)

42 6 k emblem, means of transport, text

brown-red, olive yellow

(cat. Michel 3509/SG 3572/Yvert 3368)

International Letter Writing Week

date: 16 September 1968

designer: Viktor Pimenov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

remark: part of a series of two stamps

43 4 k letter, globe, means of transport, text

olive-brown, orange-red, brown-lake

(cat. Michel 3533/SG 3596/Yvert 3402)

ILO 50th anniversary

date: 9 May 1969

designer: I. Martynov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11¼

44 6 k emblem, globe, text

gold, carmine

(cat. Michel 3619/SG 3681/Yvert 3482)

UNESCO Symposium 'Lenin and the development of science, culture and education', Tampere

date: 26 March 1970

designer: Yuri Levinovksy

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12½:12

45 6 k emblems, worker, books by Lenin, text

brown

(cat. Michel 3743/SG 3805/Yvert 3609)

UNO 25th anniversary

date: 1 June 1970

designer: Ivan Martynov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12:12½

46 12 k emblem, statue 'Let us beat our swords into ploughshares', text

brown-purple, light grey-green

(cat. Michel 3773/SG 3840/Yvert 3634)

Declaration on Granting Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples 10th anniversary

date: 10 December 1970

designer: Abram Shmidshtein

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12:12½

47 10 k African woman and child, broken chain, emblem, text

brown, light blue

(cat. Michel 3823/SG 3883/Yvert 3676)

International Letter Writing Week

date: 14 July 1971

designer: Anatoly Aksamit

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

48 4 k letters, post horns, compass, means of transport, text

black, new blue, yellow-olive

(cat. Michel 3906/SG 3960/Yvert 3736)

World Health Day 1972 - Your heart is your health

date: 9 February 1972

designer: Vladimir Kolganov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12:12½

49 4 k family, heart-flower, globe, text

red, bright myrtle-green

(cat. Michel 3985/SG 4036/Yvert 3815)

International Book Year

date: 5 May 1972

designer: Yury Artsimenev

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

50 6 k book, torch, family reading, globe, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 4002/SG 4055/Yvert 3831)

UPU Centenary

date: 8 October 1974

designer: Leo Sharov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12:11½, souvenir sheet 12:12½

size souv. sh.: 120 x 75 mm

51 10 k Byelorussian SSR, post coach, rocket, UPU emblem, coat of arms, letters, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 4285/SG 4329/Yvert 4084)

52 10 k Ukrainian SSR, post office, UPU emblem, coat of arms, letters, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 4286/SG 4330/Yvert 4085)

53 10 k USSR, coat of arms, UPU monument, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 4287/SG 4331/Yvert 4083)

54 souvenir sheet, numbered

30 k jetliner, emblem, text, multicoloured

40 k UPU emblem, multicoloured

30 k mail coach, emblem, text, multicoloured

(cat. Michel Block 98/SG MS 4332/Yvert BF 97)

UNO 30th anniversary

date: 20 June 1975

designer: A. Kovrizhkin

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½:12

size: 64 x 79 mm

55 souvenir sheet, UN Headquarters building, text

50 k UNO emblem, text "PEACE" in five languages

gold, Prussian blue, blue

(cat. Michel Block 104/SG MS 4408/Yvert BF 103)

International Women's Year

date: 30 September 1975

designer: Yuri Artsimenev

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11¾

56 6 k rose, emblem, globe, text

bright rose, blue, blue green

(cat. Michel 4408/SG 4446/Yvert 4191)

UNESCO 30th anniversary

date: 8 September 1976

designer: Anatoli Kalashnikov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12:12½

57 16 k emblems, book

lake-brown, olive-sepia, ultramarine

(cat. Michel 4515/SG 4555/Yvert 4283)

Dmitri Shostakovich

date: 25 September 1976

designer: V. Koval

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12¼:12

58 6 k portrait, music from the seventh symphony, Peter and Paul Fortress (Saint Petersburg/Leningrad)

violet blue

(cat. Michel 4526/SG 4566/Yvert 4294)

World Maritime Day / IMCO 20th anniversary

date: 15 June 1978

designer: N. Kolesnikov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12:12½

59 6 k emblem, sea

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 4727/SG 4769/Yvert 4484)

Albert Einstein

date: 16 March 1979

designer: Pjotr Bendel

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

60 6 k portrait, relativity theory, signature, planets

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 4828/SG 4868/Yvert 4582)

International Year of the Child

date: 1 June 1979

designer: I. Suschenko

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12:12½

61 4 k emblem, child, apple blossom

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 4848/SG 4890/Yvert 4596)

International Year of the Child

date: 7 September 1979

designer: Ivan Martynov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12¼:12

remark: stamps are printed in sheets of 20 with 5 vignettes with IYC emblem and a quote by Brezhnev

62 2 k drawing 'Friendship' by Lena Liberda (12 years)

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 4878/SG 4918/Yvert 4622)

63 3 k drawing 'After the rain' by Dania Akhmetshina (14 years)

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 4879/SG 4919/Yvert 4623)

64 4 k drawing 'Friendship dance' by Lilja Elisfratova (12 years)

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 4880/SG 4920/Yvert 4624)

65 15 k drawing 'On excursion' by Vika Smaljuk (11 years)

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 4881/SG 4921/Yvert 4625)

Pablo Picasso

date: 25 October 1981

designer: Alexander Smirnov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12:12½

size: 102 x 72 mm

66 souvenir sheet, dove, signature, text

50 k portrait

multicoloured

(cat. Michel Block 152/SG MS 5179/Yvert BF 151)

UNEP 10th anniversary

date: 10 May 1982

designer: Nikolai Litvinov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

67 6 k globe, hands protecting a plant, UNEP emblem, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 5172/SG 5226/Yvert 4902)

ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, Nairobi

date: 19 May 1982

designer: Yury Bronnenbrener

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

68 15 k ITU emblem, satellite, TV tower Ostankinskaya, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 5174/SG 5228/Yvert 4906)

UNISPACE 82, Vienna

date: 15 June 1982

designer: Ivan Dergilyov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

69 15 k UN flag, outer space

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 5189/SG 5243/Yvert 4921)

IAEA 25th anniversary

date: 30 August 1982

designer: Ivan Dergilyov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

70 20 k IAEA emblem, nuclear reactor, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 5208/SG 5262/Yvert 4939)

World Communications Year

date: 10 March 1983

designer: Ivan Kozlov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

size souv. sheet: 72 x 106 mm

71 souvenir sheet, satellite, airplane, train, telephone, antennae

50 k globe with USSR in red, post horn

multicoloured

(cat. Michel block 162/SG MS 5310/Yvert BF 162)

Namibia Day

date: 26 August 1983

designer: Adam Shmidshtein

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

72 5 k SWAPO emblem, flag, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 5302/SG 5355/Yvert 5023)

International Day for the Solidarity with the Palestinian People

date: 29 August 1983

designer: Yury Kosorukov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

73 5 k Palestinian with flag, sun, olive branch, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 5303/SG 5356/Yvert 5024)

IPDC Intergovernmental Council, 4th session, Tashkent

date: 2 September 1983

designer: German Komlev

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12:11½

74 10 k emblem, texts

new blue, mauve, black

(cat. Michel 5305/SG 5358/Yvert 5026)

Indira Gandhi

date: 28 December 1984

designer: Yury Bronnenbrener

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12¼:12

75 5 k portrait

grey-brown

(cat. Michel 5467/SG 5516/Yvert 5177)

UNO 40th anniversary

date: 26 June 1985

designer: Yury Artsimenev

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

76 45 k emblem, statue 'Let us beat our swords into ploughshares', text

bright blue, gold

(cat. Michel 5525/SG 5575/Yvert 5231)

International Youth Year

date: 26 June 1985

designer: M. Lukyanov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12:12¼

77 10 k youth from different races, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 5526/SG 5574/Yvert 5230)

UNO 40th anniversary

date: 24 October 1985

designer: Yury Artsimenev

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

78 15 k UN Headquarters Building, UN flag, text

green-blue, blue, black

(cat. Michel 5552/SG 5601/Yvert 5255)

International Year of Peace

date: 2 January 1986

designer: Yury Levinovsky

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

79 20 k emblem, globe, text

greenish blue, silver

(cat. Michel 5568/SG 5617/Yvert 5271)

Man and the Biosphere Programme

date: 19 May 1986

designer: Yury Artsimenev

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

remark: issued on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the MAB Programme in the Soviet Union

80 10 k globe, swans, deer, emblem, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 5608/SG 5656/Yvert 5309)

UNESCO Programmes in the USSR

date: 15 July 1986

designer: Yury Artsimenev

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

81 5 k Intergovernmental Informatics Programme: globe, punched tape, keyboard, emblem, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 5623/SG 5671/Yvert 5323)

82 10 k International Geological Correlation Programme: landscape, geological section, emblem, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 5624/SG 5672/Yvert 5324)

83 15 k Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission: research vessel, seabird, ocean, emblem, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 5625/SG 5673/Yvert 5325)

84 35 k International Hydrological Programme: fluvial dam, emblem, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 5626/SG 5674/Yvert 5326)

Olof Palme

date: 1 August 1986

designer: Yury Bronnenbrener

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

85 10 k portrait

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 5628/SG 5676/Yvert 5328)

UNESCO 40th anniversary

date: 4 November 1986

designer: Yury Artsimenev

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

86 10 k emblems, text

blue, silver

(cat. Michel 5656/SG 5704/Yvert 5354)

ESCAP 40th anniversary

date: 21 April 1987

designer: Rim Strelnikov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

87 10 k emblems, ESCAP Headquarters Bangkok, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 5701/SG 5749/Yvert 5398)

IAEA 30th anniversary

date: 29 July 1987

designer: German Komlev

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

88 20 k emblem, IAEA Headquarters Vienna, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 5741/SG 5785/Yvert 5432)

Indira Gandhi

date: 19 November 1987

designer: Valentin Nikitin

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

89 5 k portrait, text

black, reddish brown

(cat. Michel 5771/SG 5815/Yvert 5457)

WHO 40th anniversary

date: 7 January 1988

designer: L. Zaitsev

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

90 35 k WHO emblem, text

greenish blue, black, gold

(cat. Michel 5794/SG 5838/Yvert 5479)

Nelson Mandela

date: 18 July 1988

designer: B. Ilyukhin

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

91 10 k portrait, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 5853/SG 5898/Yvert 5535)

International Letter Writing Week

date: 25 August 1988

designer: Abram Shmidshtein

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

92 5 k letters, UPU emblem, text

turquoise blue, greenish black, black

(cat. Michel 5865/SG 5910/Yvert 5546)

Universal Declaration of Human Rights 40th anniversary

date: 21 November 1988

designer: M. Lukiyanov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

93 10 k emblem, number 40, text, people

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 5886/SG 5931/Yvert 5568)

Universal Postal Union

date: 22 December 1988

designer: V. Koval

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12:12½

remark: issued in a series of twelve permanent stamps

94 1 rub UPU emblem, text "UNION POSTALE UNIVERSELLE" (also in Russian)

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 5905/SG 5951/Yvert 5589)

International Letter Writing Week

date: 20 July 1989

designer: V. Konovaljov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12¼:12

95 5 k globes, envelope with roses, posthorn, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 5978/SG 6023/Yvert 5650)

Kwame Nkrumah

date: 9 August 1989

designer: B. Ilyukhin

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

96 10 k portrait, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 5982/SG 6027/Yvert 5658)

Jawaharlal Nehru

date: 10 October 1989

designer: A. Karasev

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12¼:12

97 10 k portrait, text

brown

(cat. Michel 6002/SG 6048/Yvert 5677)

20th UPU Congress, Washington DC/World Stamp Expo 89, Washington DC

date: 24 November 1989

designer: V. Larichkin (98-99), A. Leonov (100), V. Dzhanibekov (101)

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11¾ (stamps), imperforated (souvenir sheet)

remark: printed in blocks of four

size souv. sh.: 105 x 85 mm

98 25 k Soviet lunar probe, lunar vehicle "Lunokhod I"

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 6020 A/SG 6066/Yvert 5695)

99 25 k American lunar module and astronaut

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 6021 A/SG 6067/Yvert 5696)

100 25 k fictive American-Soviet expedition to Mars, astronauts

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 6022 A/SG 6068/Yvert 5697)

101 25 k emblem of a fictive American-Soviet expedition to Mars

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 6023 A/SG 6069/Yvert 5698)

102 souvenir sheet, exhibition emblem, text

25 k Soviet lunar probe, lunar vehicle "Lunokhod I"

25 k American lunar module and astronaut

25 k fictive American-Soviet expedition to Mars, astronauts

25 k emblem of a fictive American-Soviet expedition to Mars

multicoloured

(cat. Michel Block 210/SG MS 6070/Yvert BF 209)

Universal Postal Union

date: 25 December 1989

designer: V. Koval

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12:12½

remark: issued in a series of twelve permanent stamps

103 1 rub UPU emblem, text "UNION POSTALE UNIVERSELLE"

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 6039/SG 6087/Yvert 5589a)

ITU 125th anniversary

date: 20 February 1990

designer: German Komlev

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

104 20 k ITU emblem, electric cable, computer, text

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 6070/SG 6126/Yvert 5733)

International Letter Writing Week

date: 12 September 1990

designer: A. Kozhevnikov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12:11½

105 5 k pigeon delivering letter to girl, butterfly, clouds, text

blue

(cat. Michel 6123/SG 6180/Yvert 5785)

1st UNECE Road Safety Week

date: 12 September 1990

designer: Rim Strelnikov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

106 5 k Moscow buildings, traffic, UN emblem, texts

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 6124/SG 6181/Yvert 5786)

Transport and Communications Decade for Asia and the Pacific

date: 20 March 1991

designer: Yury Artsimenev

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

107 10 k satellite, ship, UN emblem, texts

multicoloured

(cat. Michel 6184/SG 6237/Yvert 5843)

International Letter Writing Week

date: 1 August 1991

designer: L. Lykhmus

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12:11½

108 7 k girl opening a letter, text

reddish brown

(cat. Michel 6224/SG 6277/Yvert 5883)

League of Nations Stamp Catalogue

Fridtjof Nansen birth centenary

date: 30 December 1961

designer: L. Zavyalov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

sheet: 50 (5 x 10)

1 6 kopek portrait, sailing ship "Fram" in the Arctic, sleigh dogs

deep sepia, blue, black

(cat. Michel 2570/SG 2658/Yvert 2491)

Alexandra Kollontai birth centenary

date: 20 March 1972

designer: Viktor Pimenov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 12¼:12

remarks: part of a series of three stamps

printed on two sorts of paper

2 4 k portrait

chestnut

(cat. Michel 3994/SG 4045/Yvert 3822)

Marie Sklodovska-Curie 120th birth anniversary

date: 8 October 1987

designer: A. Starilov

printer: State Printing Works, Moscow, USSR

perforated: 11½

remark: part of a series of three stamps; printed with label with biographical information

3 5 k portrait, text

deep brown, reddish brown, blue

(cat. Michel 5759 Zf/SG 5803/Yvert 5447)

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last revised: 30 January 2011