Philately of the Donetsk People 's Republic

1. Prerequisites for the creation and projects of the first postage stamps of the Donetsk People's Republic

In the collection of the author of this work, several sheets of paper are stored, with color images of postal blocks and stamps with the inscription "Novorossiya" printed on them. These are sketches developed in 2014 by the famous Donetsk architect and local historian A. Peshekhonov in collaboration with designer A. Avdienko.

Thanks to the study of all the circumstances, during personal meetings, it was found out that the initiative to create postage stamps of Novorossiya did not belong to the postal department, but came from the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy of the DPR. As you know, in the middle of the summer of 2014, almost all former social institutions ceased their activities in the Donbass. And the Ministry subordinated a large number of subordinate institutions, such as neuropsychiatric boarding schools, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, etc. They were constantly in need of food, medicines, hygiene products, etc.

Then the Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Policy S.V. Tretyakov (1976 — 2017) had the idea to hold a kind of charity lottery to raise funds to help the affected residents of the Republic. From this idea of issuing lottery tickets, the idea of issuing postage stamps was born.

It should be noted that Tretyakov was known in the circle of Donetsk historians and local historians even before the war. In 2012, in collaboration with V.P. Stepkin, he published "The History of Donbass in persons", and in 2013 - "Stalin through the eyes of a Wehrmacht soldier", published articles on the history of the city on the website "Donetsk: history, events, facts". He was fond of collecting, philately.

"We planned to distribute them both on the territory of the Republic and on the territory of Russia," recalls A. Peshekhonov. "In general, the DPR leadership liked the idea, and the issues of issuing stamps were discussed with the Chairman of the People's Council, the Minister of Communications, and the post office."

The postage stamps developed during the time of the Provisional Government in 1917 and issued only the following year in the RSFSR were taken as a basis.

When the first stamps were created, the ideas of a new state, "Novorossiya", were still in the air. So, there were sketches of stamps to help victims of hostilities, as well as a series of mini-blocks "Heirs of military glory of Russia" with portraits of the commanders of the People's militia I. Strelkov, I. Bezler, A. Mozgovoy (1975 – 2015).

And then, due to changing political realities, such ideas came to naught. And along with them, the designs of postage stamps remained in the sketches.

At the beginning of 2015, as a private initiative of a well-known Donetsk philatelist, an overprint "DNR. Donbass Post Office". In total, about 100 pieces of such stamps were made.

And only at the end of the spring of 2015, the republican postal operator, the State Enterprise "Post of Donbass", began to issue the first postage stamps of the Donetsk People's Republic.

2. The first stamps of the State Enterprise "Donbass Post"

Officially, the philatelic history of the Donetsk People's Republic began on a symbolic day, May 9, 2015. Then the first stamp, dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, entered the postal circulation.

According to Order No. 14 of May 9, 2015 "On the manufacture and introduction into circulation of a postage stamp", a postage stamp No. 1 "Givi and Motorola – heroes of Novorossiya" was made with a nominal value of "V" (8 Russian rubles)[5]. For the release of the stamp by the State Enterprise "Post of Donbass", a special cancellation was prepared, which took place at the Post Office – the Postal Communication Center of Donetsk. The author of the first postage stamp of the DPR was the artist L. Kiparisov from St. Petersburg (Russian Federation). Hero of the Donetsk People's Republic A.S. Pavlov (call sign "Motorola") took part in the special extinguishing ceremony; 1983 – 2016).

Three months later, the Donbass Post continued issuing stamps. On August 28, 2015, the order of the Director of the State Enterprise "Post of Donbass" E.A. Kovnatsky No. 52 "On the approval and introduction into circulation of standard postage stamps, the envelope of the first day and a special postmark" was issued[6]. In accordance with the order, on August 30, 2015, three stamps in the hitch "Glory to the Miners" were introduced into the postal circulation at once: No. 2 "Glory to the Miners", No. 3 "Donetsk" and No. 4 "Glory to the Miners". Stamp No. 3 shows an image of the territory of the Republic, painted in the colors of the national flag, and the geographical coordinates of Donetsk are given, and stamps No. 2 and 4 represent two parts of the monument "To Your liberators, Donbass!". The author of this coupling was a well-known Donetsk local historian, collector-philatelist V. Zakharov.

On September 8, 2015, on the 72nd anniversary of the liberation of Donetsk from the Nazi invaders, the standard postage stamp No. 5 "Donetsk Liberation Day" and the envelope of the first day "To Your Liberators, Donbass" were approved and put into circulation. The nominal value of the brand "W", corresponding to the cost of 12 Russian rubles. This stamp is considered valid for payment of postal services in all post offices of the State Enterprise "Post of Donbass".

The author and artist of the Donetsk Liberation Day stamp was the chairman of the State Committee for Environmental Policy and Natural Resources under the Head of the DPR, R.V. Kishkan, the son of the chief architect of Donetsk in 1967 - 1989, V.P. Kishkan (1933 - 2008). In 1984, V.P. Kishkan took part in the creation of one of the symbols of the city - the monument "To Your liberators, Donbass!", which was depicted on this postage stamp. It is worth noting that the design of the Donetsk stamp resembles the design of a series of Russian postage stamps "Kremlins of Russia" in 2009.

On September 15, 2015, another order was issued by the Director of the State Enterprise "Donbass Post" E.A. Kovnatsky No. 72 "On the approval and introduction of a standard postage stamp", according to which on September 16, 2015, the stamp No. 6 "Donbass Post" was introduced into postal circulation, which depicts the emblem of the republican postal operator and the corresponding text.

Further, in 2015, postage stamps No. 7 "World Mail Day" (October 9) and No. 8 "Communication Workers Day" (October 20) were issued, also concerning the subject and professional activities of the DPR postal operator[9]. In the same year, the Donbass Post Office opened a series of postage stamps, which have now become permanent. Firstly, these are standard postage stamps No. 13 "Gorlovka" (November 24), No. 14 "Shakhtersk" (November 26), No. 15 "Dokuchaevsk" (December 1), No. 16 "Debaltsevo" (December 3), No. 17 "Yenakievo" (December 10), No. 18 "Ilovaysk" (December 15) and No. 19 "Donetsk" (December 17). Secondly, the series "Professional Holidays of the Donetsk People's Republic", where postage stamps No. 20 "Energy Day" (December 22) and No. 21 "Ministry of State Security" (December 22) were issued[11]. The designer of these series of postage stamps is E. Tsarenko.

In a separate line, it is necessary to highlight the postal block No. 1 "Anniversary of the inauguration of the Head of the Donetsk People's Republic", issued on November 4, 2015 in honor of the first anniversary of the inauguration of the first Head of the DPR A.V. Zakharchenko (1976 – 2018)[12]. The block includes four postage stamps: No. 9 "Debaltseve", No. 10 "Inauguration", No. 11 "Saur Grave" and No. 12 "Victory Parade". The designer of the block is E. Tsarenko. Thanks to a very small circulation, only 400 copies, so-called The Zakharchenko Block immediately became a philatelic rarity, and after the tragic death of the head of state on August 31, 2018, its value and value increased significantly.

And the 2015 issue of the stamp No. 22 "Happy New Year and Merry Christmas!" completed the line of postage stamps. Subsequently, the "New Year stamps" also became traditional for the "Post of Donbass".

Conclusions

The fact that postage stamps have been issued and are being issued in the DPR is quite logical and understandable. As you know, historically, a stamp is not only a postage stamp, but also a "business card" of the state itself, along with symbols such as the coat of arms, flag, anthem, etc. This is a powerful legitimization tool. And it does not matter whether the country is recognized today or not.

For obvious reasons related to the military-political and ideological confrontation that has been going on since 2014, Ukrainian experts deny the value of Donetsk philately. They argue that the DPR and the LPR are not members of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), so their postage stamps are not stamps.

However, there are postal systems in the world of a number of states that are not members of the UPU, but which are part of the postal system of other countries. For example, these are all overseas territories of Great Britain, there are a number of countries that are part of the US postal system and, in fact, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which are part of the Russian postal system.

By the way, on November 4, 2016, postage stamps dedicated to the anniversary of the recognition of the DPR by the Republic of South Ossetia were put into circulation, and on June 17, 2017, the second joint issue of stamps depicting the temple religious complexes of the two friendly independent republics appeared.

The popularity of Donetsk stamps is also added by the fact that the military conflict in Donbass continues to remain in the center of public attention. And each brand, so to speak, coming from the zone of this conflict, is discussed not only by specialists, but also distributed in the media space. The coverage of the interested audience can be up to half a million people. Thus, small paper squares have their own propaganda power. Experts say that the DPR is also outplaying the Ukrainian authorities in this field. We have many times more stamps dedicated to political events, certain milestones in the state-building of the Republic, they appear more quickly and have a clear message.

Philatelic history is a part of the history of the state, which is studied through the prism of philately (from the Greek phileo - I love, and ateleia - exemption from payment), the field of collecting and studying postage stamps.

The main objects of philately are postage stamps, the issue of which is exclusively the monopoly right of a particular state. Therefore, the issue of postage stamps is an integral part of the activities of responsible State institutions. In the Donetsk People's Republic, such is the republican postal operator – the State Enterprise "Post of Donbass", subordinate to the Ministry of Communications of the DPR.

The purpose of this work is to determine the state importance and political significance of the issue of postage stamps in the process of the formation of the Donetsk People's Republic, to highlight the main milestones of the initial stage of the philatelic history of our state, to determine the prerequisites for the further development of philately and, through its prism, the popularization of the Donetsk People's Republic itself as a sovereign, independent state in Europe and the world.