The new state decorations, the Order of Pirogov and the Luke of Crimea Medal, are aimed at further improving the state award system of the Russian Federation.
The Executive Order also approved the Statute and description of the Order of Pirogov, the Regulation on the medal and the description of the Luke of Crimea Medal, as well as the design of the Order of Pirogov and the Luke of Crimea Medal.
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Nikolai Pirogov (1810–1881) was a Russian surgeon and anatomist, natural scientist and teacher, professor, author of the first atlas of topographic anatomy, founder of Russian battlefield surgery, and founder of the Russian school of anesthesia.
Archbishop Luke (secular name Valentin Voino-Yasenetsky; 1877–1961) was a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church, and served as Archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea from April 1946; a Russian and Soviet surgeon, scientist, author of papers on anesthesiology and purulent surgery, Doctor of Medicine. Canonised as a locally revered saint in the Crimean diocese in 1995, he was later declared a saint by the Church of all Russia in August 2000.