Current events.
🇱🇻🇺🇦 On 10 March 2022 the postal service of Latvia released a single stamp produced in a miniature sheet of 3 plus 1 non-postal label to underline Latvia’s solidarity with the brave people of Ukraine as the country continues to come under brutal attack from the invading Russian armed forces on the orders of a man who now undoubtedly can be labelled a war criminal, Putin.
Although this Blog is devoted to the stamps of Commonwealth countries, it is perfectly fitting to highlight this new stamp here in view of the sheer criminal viciousness of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the heroism of the Ukrainians and to express a hope that many Commonwealth postal services will follow the lead of that of Latvia in issuing stamps drawing attention to their feelings of solidarity against Putin’s onslaught. It may be a small gesture but stamps can be high profile items which catch the attention of the world’s media and the people they inform.
I have stated before that I hope that Royal Mail will rush out an issue to highlight the United Kingdom’s support for President Zelensky and his people - it doesn’t have to take the two years that Royal Mail took to celebrate the heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic - after all, if the Latvian postal service can release a dignified and appropriate stamp to mark the Ukrainian’s heroism then it should not be beyond Royal Mail’s abilities to match the Latvians’ achievement. The same goes for other Commonwealth postal services such as Canada Post, Australia Post and New Zealand Post. Of course the governments of some South Asian and African Commonwealth states - much to their shame - failed to support the condemnation of the Russian invasion when the UN General Assembly debated the issue but no Commonwealth country actually voted on the side of Russia.
Of course none of us want to see the likes of Stamperija and IGPC cynically churning out their appalling products with the aim of cashing in on the Ukrainian people’s pain but there is room for many postal services to release stamps to show just whose side their country stands on.
Let us hope that Commonwealth postal services use this small philatelic gesture to express their countries’ distaste for and revulsion at the Russian invasion and express their admiration for the bravery of the Ukrainians.
My guess for a Commonwealth country issuing such a stamp would be Canada, as there is a big Ukrainian community there. Estonia already announced a thematic stamp as well for the 24th March and Ukraine of course will also issue one soon. Stamperija stamps might actually be interesting to see. After all they are based in Lithuania, so there is a connection to Russian aggression.
ReplyDeleteAnother note about the Latvian stamp, it actually includes a donation to charity fund Ziedot.lv programme in support of Ukraine.