PM Modi honoured with Russia's highest civilian award
12 Apr 2019
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Russia has honoured Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the country’s highest civilian award, 'Order of Saint Andrew the Apostle', for promoting a special and privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India. Russian President Vladimir Putin today signed the decree conferring Modi with the highest state decoration, its embassy tweeted.
Moscow is honouring Prime Minister Modi for exceptional services in promoting special and privileged strategic partnership between the two countries.
"On April 12, Narendra Modi was decorated with the `Order of St Andrew the Apostle’ for exceptional services in promoting special and privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India and friendly relations between the Russian and Indian peoples," the Russian Embassy said in a tweet.
This is the second international honour for the PM this month after he was awarded the United Arab Emirates' highest civilian award, the Zayed Medal, as a mark of appreciation for his efforts to boost ties between the two nations.
This comes less than two months after the prime minister was awarded Seoul Peace Prize by the South Korean government in recognition of his service to international cooperation, global growth and human development.
In October 2018, Modi received the United Nation's highest environmental honour, the Champions of the Earth Award, from secretary-general Antonio Guterres for his "unprecedented pledge to eliminate all single-use plastic in India by 2022". He was among the six winners of the award.
The prime minister also received the first-ever Philip Kotler Presidential Award on 14 January, 2019. However, the award was surrounded in a controversy as critics questioned its authenticity. However, Kotler later stated that he took the final decision on giving the award to Modi after a committee in his organisation voted on possible contenders.
The Order of St Andrew the Apostle is the highest order of the Russian Federation. Established in 1698, the honour was the first and highest order of chivalry in the Russian Empire. During the Soviet rule, the award was abolished. It was reinstated in 1998.
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