In addition to collecting Soviet awards, I also collect Russian/Soviet stamps and coins and have pretty solid collections - there are many coins and stamps that feature awards or awardees (be it people, cities, or institutions). I have an article about awards on Soviet stamps, available in Art's archive... When I go back home this summer I can send you scans of all the coins featuring awards or awardees. (scanning all the stamps would be a near impossible task)
I always find it fascinating to see how some hobbies break the borders and merge in some aspects!
Weren't coins and medals designed by the same artists at the same mint? maybe this explains some of the similarity..as Mahdi mentions, stamps were also used for patriotic imagery. His articles are in the digest archive.
I am not myself a huge fan of post-Soviet numismatics, but I must say the quality of the Russian proofs is exceptional, much better then the Soviets ever produced, including the 1980 Olimpic series.
I know this is not a numismatic forum, but I just felt like saying that I agree with Tal, although I do think that the 12 silver proofs struck between 1988 and 1991, in extremely low quantities were of very high quality - part of the reason they're so expensive now (about $800 for all 12).