Malta-Russia stamp issue attracts Commonwealth’s attention for wrong reason

Malta has for the wrong reason recently made it to the ‘Commonwealth stamps opinion’ blogspot, which focusses entirely on the collection of stamps around the Commonwealth countries and where views and opinions are shared.

Around two months ago, in May, MaltaPost and Russian Post marked the countries’ long-standing relations by the release of a philatelic joint stamp issue. In search of common ties between Malta and Russia, Russian Post decided to go for two paintings by Russian artist Nicholas Krasnoff, who fled to Malta in 1919 and lived here until 1922 – in December that year, the Soviet Union came into being.

But while the Maltese painting depicts the view from Vittoriosa Gate, the other stamp shows the Dulber Palace in Crimea.

“MaltaPost and Russian Post will mark their respective countries’ long-standing relations by the release of a philatelic joint stamp issue,” MaltaPost had said in May.

“The common theme chosen for this stamp issue relates to two paintings by Russian artist Nicholas Krassnoff and portrays the view of the Birgu waterfront for the Malta stamp and the Dulber Palace in Crimea for the Russian stamp.”

MaltaPost and Russian Post marked the countries' long-standing relations by the release of a philatelic joint stamp issue

So justifiably, the Commonwealth stamps expert raised eyebrows at the choice of the palace in Crimea, a Ukrainian territory that was annexed by the Russian Federation in 2014. 

In early 2014 Crimea became the focus of the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War, after Ukraine’s pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovych was driven from power by violent protests in Kiev. 

Kremlin-backed forces seized control of the Crimean peninsula, and the territory, which has a Russian-speaking majority, voted to join Russia in a referendum that Ukraine and the West deem illegal. 

“Is there a significance to the choice of a Crimean scene being featured on the stamp? Is there more to a simple depiction of a rather indifferent painting on a stamp than the desire to commemorate the visit to an island which once saw Caravaggio living there?” the blog reads. 

“Has Malta Post been duped into a form of recognising Crimea as part of Russia by issuing this stamp? Is this a clever move by the Russian authorities in persuading a member of the European Union to allow this image to appear on one of its postage stamps?”