President Vladimir Putin: Dear laureates, dear friends and colleagues,
It is a great pleasure and honour for me to congratulate our laureates and to award them the State Prize.
This is the second time that this award ceremony is taking place on June 12, Russia Day. There can be no doubt that your outstanding personal achievements are a priceless contribution to our national success and an inseparable part of Russia’s scientific, cultural and humanitarian life in the broadest sense.
Today, as we celebrate Russian statehood, we should look back on its thousand-year history and on the unique road our state has followed. And, of course, we should remember the values that have entered our lives along with the fundamental transformations of recent years. Above all, these are the values of democracy, justice, spiritual freedom and civic spirit.
It is no exaggeration to say that these values have had a profound impact on public consciousness in our country. By placing the fundamental human rights and freedoms at the cornerstone of our life they have opened the way to creative development and innovative ideas, to the ideas of humanism and enlightenment.
Opportunities of this kind have always generated initiative and aroused people’s interest and have always enabled the state to reap the fruits of economic and social progress. In today’s modern age new knowledge and creative ideas are ever more important in shaping people’s world outlook and life goals and provide a solid foundation for the whole of society’s successful development.
Dear friends,
Russia has always been rich in clever, purposeful, bold and talented people, in people who embody the energy that drives the nation forward and who provide shining examples of how to build one’s life.
Without doubt the recipients of the State Prize belong among the ranks of these outstanding citizens of our country. Their names are a part of Russia’s history and each of them merits individual mention.
Present here today is the Most Holy Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexii II, whose unquestionable services are well known to all. It is enough to say that the years of his service have witnessed the spiritual rebirth of Russian society. It is fitting, therefore, that the first Russian State Prize for Humanitarian Achievements should be awarded to His Holiness Patriarch Alexii II.
The winners of the State Prize for Science and Technology are the world-renowned Russian scientists Igor Vasilyevich Gorynin and Alexander Nikolayevich Skrinsky.
Academician Gorynin’s research has laid the foundation for the creation and wide-scale production of unique and highly efficient construction materials and the technology for their application.
His colleagues like to joke that everything that can be driven, sailed or flown is connected in one way or another to Gorynin’s work. But this is actually close to the truth and he has made a major contribution to our country’s biggest projects of the twentieth century.
Academician Skrinsky is held in high esteem by the international scientific world. His genuinely revolutionary ideas on the creation of new types of accelerators have brought about a breakthrough in high-energy physics.
Alexander Nikolayevich’s work is at the foundation of many big Russian and international projects.
I would like to note an important circumstance today, and that is that all the recipients of the State Prize are people of whom everyone speaks with great respect and even admiration, everyone who has had the good fortune to work with them. In this respect I would like to note that the selection of the laureates takes into account not only their professional achievements but also their great personal merits.
I would like now to make special mention of Alexei Vladimirovich Batalov, winner of the State Prize for Literature and the Arts. He is the embodiment of authentically Russian culture for millions of people and the works he has created are a yardstick of professionalism. But they are also an example of boundless love and loyalty to his people and his country.
Today’s laureates include a wonderful creative team, which has for the first time in our country’s modern cultural history succeeded in retelling in the language of ballet the epic poem of the East, “The Legend of Yusuf”.
The libretto, which preserves the spiritual atmosphere of the original, was written by Renat Kharisov, national poet of Tatarstan. The music by composer Leonid Zinovyevich Lyubovsky blends the intonations of European and Eastern culture, and the unique talent of dancer Nurlan Kanetov gives us cause to say with confidence that a new star is rising on the world stage.
Yet another recipient of this high award is an outstanding musician, people’s artist of Russia Mikhail Vasilyevich Pletnev. Mikhail Vasilyevich is deservedly counted among the world’s greatest pianists and the orchestra he heads is recognised as one of the world’s best.
Dear friends, dear laureates,
Your creative triumphs, unique scientific discoveries and artistic masterpieces are a special part not just of your own achievements but of our shared national treasure. They are a sort of visiting card of Russian science and culture.
I am sure that in dedicating your knowledge and lofty aspirations to all your undertakings you thought about our homeland and worked to make our country stronger and more prosperous, to raise its prestige and influence and give it the means to confidently overcome all the challenges of the modern world.
Once again, I congratulate you most sincerely and wish you health, happiness, well-being and success. May your lives continue to be filled with the light of creation and the joy of new achievements.
I congratulate you and I would now like to begin making the awards. Thank you for your attention.