Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics stamps to be issued

PanARMENIAN.Net - The first of four stamp collections depicting the Sochi 2014 winter Games will be released into circulation in autumn of 2011 but these will be the most-multilingual in six languages: Russian, English, French, German, Spanish and Chinese.

The scenes will feature key areas relating to the Games and to local tourism: Krasnaya Polyana, the marine passenger terminal, the watchtower on the Bolshoy Akhun and the Volkonsky Dolmen, a unique monument to megalith culture in Sochi National Park.

Sochi president, Dmitry Chernyshenko, said, "The history of issuing Olympic stamps goes back 115 years, to the first Olympic Games in Athens. I hope that the Sochi 2014 philatelic programme will continue the tradition begun at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.

“More than 70 stamps were issued for that event, and the total income from stamp sales was equivalent to 21 million dollars in today's money. We plan to repeat that success and add a collection with unique images, real collector's items for Sochi 2014."

The sheets of stamps will include four stamps and four descriptive labels giving information about the featured sights.

The first stamps will be made available in Russia in autumn 2011 and will cost 15, 20, 25 and 30 roubles respectively. Later on this series of stamps will also be made available abroad, Sports Features Communications reported.