Order of the Red Banner of Labour to Baroness


   In a radio speech on 22 June 1944, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said:

"Any man or State who fights against Nazism will have our aid. Any man or State who marches with Hitler is our foe. It follows, therefore, that we shall give whatever help we can to Russia and to the Russian people. We shall appeal to all our friends and Allies in every part of the world to take the same course and pursue it as we shall, faithfully and steadfastly to the end".


North Rumaila Pipeline Launch Commemorative Medal


   On 17 July 1968, as a result of another coup, the Arab Socialist Renaissance Party - Ba'ath came to power in Iraq. General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr became president and head of the Revolutionary Command Council, and 29-year-old Saddam Hussein became his deputy. The new leadership announced plans to nationalize the Iraq Petroleum Company group, which was controlled by foreign oil giants and operated under long-term concession.


Medals of the Swedish Blue Star Society


   The First World War brought great destruction and sacrifice. Amid reports of many dead and wounded, the situation with army horses went unnoticed by most people. But there were several people who were struck by the war scenes in which the wounded horses were dying and no one tried to alleviate their torment. On Christmas Eve 1914, the International Federation of War Animal Aid Associations "L'Etoile Rouge" (Red Star), was founded. In Sweden, the idea was taken up by the Swedish Association for the Protection of Animals, and in 1917 the "Swedish Red Star Society" (Svenska Röda Stjärnan) was founded. The purpose of the Society was to become to animals what the Red Cross Society was to humans.


Soviet awards to Norwegian patriots. Part two.


   This is the second part of the story about the Norwegian patriots awarded with Soviet awards during World War II. Today our story is about Trygve Eriksen.


Soviet awards to Norwegian patriots


   Germany occupied Norway on 9 April 1940 and controlled this Scandinavian country until the surrender of German troops in Europe on 8 May 1945. Many citizens participated in the Resistance Movement, in strikes and sabotage and in partisan struggle. Today our story is about Norwegian patriots who were awarded Soviet orders and medals for courage and bravery in rescuing Soviet soldiers and helping them during World War II.


State visit of the President of the Republic Giuseppe Saragat to Norway Medal


   Italy was among the first countries to recognized Norway as an independent state in the autumn of 1905 and the bilateral relations between the two countries are traditionally excellent at all levels.
   In the diplomatic relations between two countries a moment of particular importance is the State Visit. The first Norwegian King to undertake a State Visit to Italy after the Second World War was King Olav V in April 1967. The first President of the Italian Republic to visit Norway was Giuseppe Saragat in June 1965.


Alexander Ponomarenko


   After the creation of Pakistan in 1947, the Government of Prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan realized the importance of local production of iron and steel. In 1958, Soviet premier Nikolai Bulganin offered technical and scientific assistance to Prime Minister Suhrawardy regarding the steel mills and expressing interests in establishing the country's first steel mills.


Yevgeny Petrov


   Probably there are no people among the citizens of the former Soviet Union who have not heard about the novels of Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov "The Twelve Chairs" and "The Golden Calf". The works of these authors have been translated into dozens of languages, survived a large number of reprints and have been repeatedly filmed. The authors are often perceived only in tandem, but we will try to "separate" them and stop at Eugene Petrov and his awards.