This year, writer and public figure Daniil Granin became a laureate of the award for his outstanding achievements in humanitarian affairs. This year the President made an exception and presented the award earlier, on June 3, at a ceremony in St Petersburg.
Among the recipients of the National Awards in science and technology will be top officials of Surgutneftegas company – Director General, DSc in Economics Vladimir Bogdanov, Deputy Director General Anatoly Nuryayev, and advisor to the chief geologist, DSc in Engineering Yury Baturin for their considerable contributions in developing the country's resource potential: they were successful in implementing economically efficient methods for the development of oil and gas fields in West Siberia.
Laureates also include cardiologists Amiran Revishvili, Alexander Karaskov and Yevgeny Pokushalov, prominent Russian scientists in astrophysics and cosmology Nikolai Shakura and Rashid Syunyayev, composer Eduard Artemyev, ballet choreographer Yury Grigorovich, and Director of the Hermitage Museum Mikhail Piotrovsky.
The ceremony to present the National Awards will take place at the Kremlin's Ivanovskaya Square and will be immediately followed by an official reception to mark the national holiday, Russia Day.