Speaking at a reception at the Kremlin marking the Day of National Unity, Dmitry Medvedev thanked the recipients of state decorations, calling them true enthusiasts who make efforts at the highest level to support interest in Russian culture and history, promote the study of Russian, and preserve the integrity and diversity of the unique Russian world that unites all Russians, wherever they may be, and all friends of Russia around the world.
Recipients of Russian state decorations:
Order of Honour
Helene Carrere d’Encausse – permanent secretary of the Academie Francaise
Order of Friendship
Michael George Charles Franklin Windsor, Prince of Kent – second cousin of Queen Elizabeth II of Britain
Kassa Gebre Hiwot – former Ethiopian ambassador to the Russian Federation
Sergei Kivalov – chairman of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada’s Committee on Justice, Ukraine
Georgy Kryuchkov – executive secretary of public political organisation Ukrainian Forum, Ukraine
Hermann Parzinger – president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, Germany
Maya Romenets de Rios – trustee and director of Maxim Gorky School, Republic of Peru
Sergei Tsekov – deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Ukraine
Mikhail Shemyakin – member of the New York Academy of Sciences
Pushkin Medal
Isa Naya Bakori – Russian language teacher at Umaru Musa Yar’adua University, Federal Republic of Nigeria
Mir Sahib Jan Nawab-han Kuchai – head of the Russian language department at Kabul State University, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan