TacHel

Nice shots of a colonel of airborne troops with medals and without showing his ribbon bars.

Young captain wearing the Gold Star of a Hero of the Russian Federation, the Medal of Suvorov and the Medal for 200 Years of the Interior Ministry.

At right: soldier of Internal Troops (national guard) wearing two Orders of Valour and on his right chest, the Badge for Distinguished Service of Interior Troops 1st class.

At left: airborne trooper wearing the Order of Valour and the Medal For Service To The Fatherland 2nd Class With Swords.

This young junior sergeant has been awarded the Cross of St George 4th class by the President of the Russian Federation. The very first award of this decoration since 1917. He also wears the new model Guards Badge (like my avatar).

This member of "OMOH" (Russian SWAT) is wearing an odd mixture of Soviet, Russian Federation and "Umalatova" awards. The "Umalatova" awards (2 R/H medals on bottom row) are from the Ex Presidium of the Soviet Union, they're still dishing out medals!

I can see an Austrian NAZI getting this medal...

What does this mean to a collector seeking Russian Federation ODMs?

It means be VERY CAREFUL where and who you buy them from! Russian dealers will gladly sell them to you in person or via the internet, but you will probably see them confiscated (and possibly face criminal charges) when leaving the country, or if via the internet, they will probably never arrive.

Seek out dealers from Eastern Europe, Belarus, Lithuania, Ukraine etc. The choice will be somewhat limited, but it will be much safer. You will eventually find what you're looking for, your patience will be rewarded.

The text below is courtesy of Christophe:

According to the Article 7 and 9 of the Law of Russian Federation "On export and import of cultural goods", 15 April 1993, N 4804-1,

Following cultural commodities are not subject to export from Russian Federation, and the Law applies to following categories of items :

* Historical values, among them those connected with historical events in the life of the nation, the development of society and State, the history of science and technology, as well as those related to life and activity of outstanding personalities (state persons, political and public figures, scientists and artists)

* Items and their fragments, obtained as a result of archaeological excavations

* Artistic values, among them :

* Paintings and drawings that are fully handmade, on any kind of warp, made of any kind of material;

* Original sculptures made of any kind of material, including relieves;

* Original artistic compositions and montages made of any kind of material;

* Artistically mounted items of religious purpose, including icons;

* Engravings, prints, lithographs and their original printing forms;

* Works of arts and crafts, including works in glass, ceramics, wood, metal, ivory, fabric and other materials;

* Works of traditional folk handicraft;

* Components and fragments of monuments of architecture and historical monuments

* Ancient books, editions of special interest (historical, artistic, scientific and literary), separately or in collections

* Rare manuscripts and documentary relics

* Archives, including photography, sound and film archives

* Unique and rare musical instruments

* Postal stamps, other philatelic materials, separately or in collections

* Ancient coins, orders, medals, seals and other collected items

* Rare collections and samples of flora and fauna, items of interest to the scientific fields of mineralogy, anatomy and palaeontology

* Copies of historical, artistic, scientific or different value, as well as those under protection as historical and cultural relics. "

Ed my friend... You have a "quasi morbid" fascination for these old communist organizations that are hanging on by their fingernails and slowly sinking into oblivion ... Even the Russians are now starting to treat them for what they are... Anachronisms!

Like I mentioned before (in another forum), to me, this is akin the Neo-Nazi party producing and bestowing awards bearing swastikas in modern day Germany. Es macht keinen Sinn!

Even the Russian web site lists it in the "MISC" section... Says it all really.

Like Roman said, a nice Xmas tree ornament... :rolleyes:

Medal of merit of the Russian Union of Afghanistan Veterans.

100% civilian "unofficial" (non governmental) award.

Tim, when I first started collecting French ODMs I almost gave up, like you mention it, it's quite the minefield at first.

Check this web site, although in French, it is quite complete, actually, it is most probably the best web site on the subject anywhere.

FRANCE PHAL?RISTIQUE

The webmaster is Marc Champenois, he really knows his stuff and will gladly answer any question you might have.

Cheers!

Tim, check page 2 of this this link M?daille des bless?s

I just came across the following today...are 'motherland' and 'fatherland' interchangeable?

Every single Russian Federation presidential or ministerial decree I've read, and I'm talking about well over 300 here, mention "Fatherland".

I double and triple checked myself at first, me being so used to the term "Mother Russian".

Super photographs!!

Thanks for sharing! Awesome eye candy! :jumping:

A very commendable start!

You'll find this area of great historical interest (I did anyway). The variety of available awards is quite extensive, unfortunately, it also quite rapidly becomes quite expensive.

You mean you never read about the "All Too Secret Exploits of Winnie in WW2"

Where he went on secret missions with the Commandos,

landing by Parachute behind enemy lines, storming enemy beaches

and chewing his way through the Jungles of Burma.

Ah! well I guess thats why they call it "Need to know".

Kevin in Deva.

You forgot to mention the time he was snorkeling in the Med and single handedly sank a U Boat by taking a bite out of it... :speechless:

Wow! How rare! Thanks for sharing!

And the King got WWII medals too . . .

His Majesty was the "Commander in Chief" of the armed forces. And let us not forget the old adage... "It's good to be King".

Mr Churchill's honorary titles of air commodore and colonel in chief might have been recognized for awards, I know modern day honorary colonels count their time for long service awards, but...

I stress the term "OPERATIONAL SERVICE" which is mentioned in the prerequisites for ALL WW2 stars. Even modern awards' prerequisites are still written this way explicitely to prevent "visitors" to the operational areas from claiming combat theater awards.

If he meet the award criteria with regards the medals, then I have no problems with them being awarded to him.

Well, that's just it... He didn't. He was a politician, and even though he was a veteran, he was not a member of the armed forces. The award prerequisites are quite simple and plain to understand: "for OPERATIONAL service". Unless the King waived the prerequisites for him? Did this actually happen?

What the H...?

Gents... What is Winston doing with WW2 stars among his other gongs?

In NO WAY do I want to seem like I wish to diminish his contribution to final victory, but... I've seen so many WW2 vets from various Commonwealth countries told outright they did not qualify for the 1939-45 Star even after receiving other Stars that it bothers me a bit to see them here...

The WW2 Victory Medal I understand, heck, I would've minted a solid gold version for him!!

The Defense Medal, iffy at best...

The Stars... Sorry, not in my humble opinion. I don't care how much time he actually spent in theater as the guest of Ike or Alexander or Monty, it simply doesn`t seem right to me.

But that's only MY opinion. I don't mean to offend people with opinions that differ from mine, I would however appreciate an explanation as to just how this came about...

Simple, re-establish the wound stripe. The Canadians have bought it back.

Regards,

Johnsy

We brought back the wound stripe a looong time ago. But it has now been replaced by the "Sacrifice Medal".

It is on hold for a bit due to the fact it is only awarded retroactively to October 2001, there's a fight to go back further. There's also a fight to change the prerequisites a bit.

Leigh, I would assume since it was the French pulling out, that alot of French speaking Canadians were involved.

I've been in the Canadian Forces for 28+ years and only met 2 chief warrant officers wearing this medal, and this was in the early 80s. Both were anglophones.

The badge seen here being worn on the right breast (as per regs) of this colonel of airborne troops.

Breast Badge "Participant in Combat Operations" for troops of the Defense Ministry.

Beautiful heavy construction. Awarded for participation in combat ops akin the US combat infantry badge or the French "Croix du Combattant".