TacHel

8- Medal “80 Years of the KGB”

9- Medal “70 Years since the Creation of the Airborne Troops of the USSR”

10- Medal “55 Years of Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War”

11- Medal “80 Years of the Komsomol”

12- Medal “80 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR”

13- Medal “1879-1999 to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the birth of Stalin”

14- Medal “20 Years since the Withdrawal of Soviet Troops from Afghanistan”

1- Medal “Marshal of the Soviet Union Zhukov”

2- Medal “Veteran Internationalist”

3- Order of Stalin

4- Medal “Soviet Fleet Admiral Kuznetsov"

5- Medal “50 Years of Atomic Energy in the USSR”

6- Medal “50 Years of Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War”

7- Medal “80 Years of the Great October Socialist Revolution”

I refer to these medals as "Umalatova". For those not familiar with the term, it refers to Sazhi Umalatova, a Russian politician who pined for past Soviet glory. She was the chairwoman of the Party of Peace and Unity, they issued their own medals in the Soviet style. These medals were basically to remain in the public eye and to raise funds for the party. You might've contributed to a Russian political party without even knowing it! (I did it myself unknowingly 2 years ago )

If you want to see an interview of this lady, CLICK HERE The page also contains a bit of info on the party.

The medals below are ALL "UMALATOVAs", beware of buyers advertizing them as Soviet or Russian military medals. They are in fact, as unofficial as they come.

NOTE: This thread is apolitical, I make no remarks about the lady or the party she represents, nor am I trying to dissuade you from purchasing and collecting these medals. My only concern is to inform my fellow collectors as to their true nature. Most dealers have no idea whatsoever!

Possible relaxation of Russian laws.

I have NO OFFICIAL PROOF of this but...

There seems to be a change of attitudes in Russia as far as exporting ODMs goes. More and more merchants and auction sites now accept to ship anywhere in the World. I myself am now dealing with a merchant there and there's no problem and no attempt at smuggling or hiding the truth from the Russian authorities. Everything is on the up and up, parcels are clearly marked with customs declarations detailing the contents and to date, everything has made it.

The ONLY article I have found lately on this subject talked about one individual exporting without a customs declaration and he received a minor fine.

I will share with you any new developments as I find them.

The "Mérite Civique" medal is a semi-official award. Established in 1930 under the auspices of the French Academy, it was replaced in 1968 by the "Étoile Civique". It was established in 3 classes, yours is the lower.

It honors courage and devotion towards others, recognizing acts and behaviours that demonstrate same. The classes distinguish from the most humble to the grandest, those who contribute to the enrichment of the collective heritage, to the betterment of social life, to humanity's progress, principally aimed at those who'se life was mostly labor and self-sacrifice and that would've remained anonymous had it not been for vigilant research.

Gorgeous! Thanks for sharing!

Great stuff! Aren't you running out of wall space?

OMG! Are you aware you were "Umalatova'd"?

Nice set up!

This pictures shows all ranks wearing it...

I believe that once on board and under way, that most preferred this side hat. You can see both officers and petty-officers wearing it.

Oh brother... I spend so much time in the Russian Federation section that I forgot where I was...

As I was saying... The pictures below of Soviet sub crewmen and officers show both black and white hats being worn for different circumstances.

But Gordon is correct, although worn ashore, I very much doubt these would have been worn on board a sub.

Yes, official ones were worn on the uniform on the lower right breast.

The 2 below are in your frame, here's more info on them:

Instituted on 22 May 1961 by order 149 of the commander of the Soviet Navy.

Awarded to the most distinguished, highly disciplined military and civilian personnel of the Navy who participated in long-range cruises on vessels of the Navy, provided that the missions were successful. For all vessels, distance requirements for award, transition from one ocean to another; for vessels of under 1000 tons, a 30 day cruise with a distance of at least 500 miles from departure point; for vessels of over 1000 tons, a 45 day cruise depending on home port, Northern Fleet - the limits of the Norwegian Sea, Pacific fleet – 3000 miles from point of origin, Black Sea Fleet and the Novorossiysk Naval district - outside of the Aegean Sea, Baltic fleet - beyond the North Sea. Specifically for submarines, a cruise with no docking amounting to more than half of the full autonomy of the vessel.

The ones that are the same but with a "pendant" are also good, the pendant bears the name of the ship the recipient was on when he earned the decoration.

Most of the others are commemorative but that wouldn't stop them from being worn on the uniform. Ship's captains and fleet commanders often issued such commemorative pieces and most sailors wore them exactly like decorations.

http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_04_2010/post-3030-127048744172.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_04_2010/post-3030-127048744932.jpg

White or black, depends on the occasion. White for parade, black for work. But I believe the young girl in the black flat top is a mere cadet.

You have a mixture of both.

Some are official military decorations while others are simply commemorative.

I recently purchased this award half expecting a lightweight hollow tinnie. I was quite surprised to receive a high quality multi piece heavy award!

This is the Decoration "For Service in the Marines" Soldiers of the Fleet, 1st class. Instituted on 24 July 2001 by ministerial order 325. Awarded to marines for special services and distinction in strengthening the combat readiness of formations and units of marines, in improving personal combat skills, for courage and bravery displayed in the performance of military duties. Promotion to this class requires one year following award of the badge 2nd class unless awarded for courage and bravery or exemplary leadership in the performance of special military operations of marine units.

The front central disc (black with anchor) has the threaded post at its back. This post goes through the center of the 2nd disc (red, bearing the inscription in gold) and the 3rd part which is the larger disc (laurels). The bumps visible on the reverse are to line up alignments "dimples" on the back of each disc. A small nut holds the assembly securely in place.

Man! That was fast!

Surprising how these can be of such high quality construction huh?

CORRECTION

This badge is actually a semi-official award of Russian Marines awarded for combat service in Chechnya 1994-96.

The official Interior Ministry badge for combat service instituted on 31 March 2000 is below.

I have seen the 3 "things" below advertised as "honor badges for chemical disarmament" in gold, silver and bronze. I have been unable to find ANY written order or decree to that effect. I must also admit at finding their appearance rather... Disappointing. Looks like costume jewelery!

If anybody has any information on these as to their authenticity or proof they are "schmuck", it would be greatly appreciated!

Oh oh... Yet another find about this elusive cross.

It wasn't a "given" for simple service in the Caucasus... You actually had to be recommended for it. Seems officers were very good at recommending each other while the troops were pretty much forgotten. You see? It doesn't matter what country's military you serve in, the story never changes.:rolleyes:

Russian Federation military honor guard band members wear the "officer pattern" cockade with wreath (NCOs usually wear the cockade without wreath), cap eagle (NCOs usually don't) and honor guard breast badge for bandsmen.

Looks like an ornament for a door, a stair case, a wall... Not an Order unless a prop...

IMHO... Sorry.

And this one...

Thanks for the info!

Maybe I should've used this picture...:whistle:

Correction

NOT 1985...

Instituted on 22 May 1961 by order 149 of the commander of the Soviet Navy.

I found the order: Instituted on 31 March 1975 by order 81 of the minister of defense of the USSR.