The Order of Friendship (russian: Орден Дружбы, ') is a
state decoration of the
Russian Federation
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
established by
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...
by
presidential decree 442 of 2 March 1994
to reward Russian and foreign nationals whose work, deeds and efforts have been aimed at the betterment of relations with the Russian Federation and its people. The design of order was created by
Alexander Zhuk
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
. Its statute was later amended by presidential decree 19 of 6 January 1999,
presidential decree 1999 of 7 September 2010,
presidential decree 1631 of 16 December 2011,
and presidential decree 308 of 16 March 2012.
It can trace its lineage to the
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
Order of Friendship of Peoples
The Order of Friendship of Peoples (russian: oрден Дружбы народов, translit=orden Druzhby narodov) was an order of the Soviet Union, and was awarded to persons (including non-citizens), organizations, enterprises, military unit ...
, also designed by Alexander Zhuk.
Award statute
The Order of Friendship is awarded to Russian and foreign nationals for special merit in strengthening peace, friendship, cooperation and understanding between nations, for fruitful work on the convergence and mutual enrichment of cultures of nations and peoples; for the active conservation, development and promotion of the cultural and historical heritage of Russia; for great contribution to the implementation of joint ventures with the Russian Federation, major economic projects and attracting investments into the economy of the Russian Federation; for broad charitable activities.
Award description
The badge of the Order of Friendship is made of gilded silver and
enamels. It is a pentagonal star created from diverging golden rays. On the
obverse
Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ...
at the center of the star is a
terrestrial globe, with the oceans covered in blue enamel. The globe is surrounded by a green enamelled wreath of olive branches. On the
reverse is the inscription "Peace and Friendship" (russian: "Мир и дружба") and the etched serial number of the individual award. The distance between opposite tips of the star is 44 mm.
The badge of the order is connected by a ring through the suspension loop to a standard Russian pentagonal mount covered with an overlapping 24 mm wide green silk
moiré ribbon with 6 mm wide light blue stripes along its edges.
When worn in the presence of other Orders and medals of the Russian Federation, the Order of Friendship is located immediately after the
Order of Honour.
Notable recipients (partial list)
The following individuals were awarded the Order of Friendship:
*
Mahathir Mohamad
Mahathir bin Mohamad ( ms, محاضير بن محمد, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; ; born 10 July 1925) is a Malaysian politician, author, and physician who served as the 4th and 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia. He held the office ...
, Malaysian 4th and 7th Prime Minister
*
Adelina Sotnikova, a Russian competitive figure skater
*
Evgenia Medvedeva, a Russian competitive figure skater
*
Kamila Valieva
Kamila Valeryevna Valieva (russian: Камила Валерьевна Валиева; born 26 April 2006) is a Russian figure skater. She is the 2022 European champion, 2021 Rostelecom Cup champion, 2021 Skate Canada International champion, ...
, a Russian competitive figure skater
*
Sopubek Begaliev, Kyrgyz politician (Kyrgyzstan)
*
Lydia T. Black, a historian and anthropologist in the field of
Russian America
Russian America (russian: Русская Америка, Russkaya Amerika) was the name for the Russian Empire's colonial possessions in North America from 1799 to 1867. It consisted mostly of present-day Alaska in the United States, but a ...
(US)
*
George Blake, double agent (UK)
*
David Blatt, basketball coach (Israel/US)
*
William Craft Brumfield
__NOTOC__
William Craft Brumfield (born June 28, 1944) is a contemporary American historian of Russian architecture, a preservationist and an architectural photographer. Brumfield is currently Professor of Slavic studies at Tulane University. ...
, historian, preservationist and photographer (US)
* The Right Honourable
Jean Chrétien
Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003.
Born and raised in Shawinigan, Shawinigan Falls, Quebec, Chrétien is a law gradua ...
, PC, OM, CC, KC, former
Prime Minister of Canada
The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the confidence of a majority the elected House of Commons; as su ...
*
Dimitris Christofias, President of Cyprus
*
Adrienne Clarkson
Adrienne Louise Clarkson (; ; born February 10, 1939) is a Hong Kong-born Canadian journalist who served from 1999 to 2005 as Governor General of Canada, the 26th since Canadian Confederation.
Clarkson arrived in Canada with her family in 19 ...
,
Governor General of Canada
The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm ...
(renounced the Order)
*
Ahmad Afandi Abdulaev, Mufti of
Dagestan
Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North Ca ...
*
Van Cliburn, renowned pianist (US)
*
Bernie Ecclestone
Bernard Charles Ecclestone (born 28 October 1930) is an English business magnate. He is the former chief executive of the Formula One Group, which manages Formula One motor racing and controls the commercial rights to the sport, and part-owns D ...
, British business magnate
*
Patricia Cloherty,
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...
and businesswoman (US)
*
Frank De Winne,
ESA astronaut
An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
and head of the European Astronaut Centre (Belgium)
*
Milorad Dodik, President of the
Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, lit=Serb Republic, also known as Republic of Srpska, ) is one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located ...
*
Maurice Druon, writer (France)
*
Yuli Gusman, film director (Azerbaijan)
*
Nadey Hakim
Nadey S. Hakim FASMBS (born 9 April 1958), is a British-Lebanese professor of transplantation surgery at Imperial College London and general surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic London. He is also a writer, musician and sculptor, known for kidney a ...
(2021)
*
Eero Heinäluoma, Deputy Prime Minister of Finland, threw the award away after the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. A ...
*
Ignatius IV of Antioch (Hazim), patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Christian Church
*
Prince Dimitri Romanov, claimant to headship of the
Imperial House of Russia
The House of Romanov (also transcribed Romanoff; rus, Романовы, Románovy, rɐˈmanəvɨ) was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after the Tsarina, Anastasia Romanova, was married to t ...
*
Victor Hochhauser
Victor Hochhauser (27 March 1923 – 22 March 2019) was a British music promoter.
Early life
Hochhauser was born on 27 March 1923 in Košice, Czechoslovakia, the son of David Hochhauser, an industrialist. His grandfather and great-grandfather ...
, British music promoter
*
Gleb Ivashentsov (2003)
*
Hun Sen
Hun Sen (; km, ហ៊ុន សែន, ; born 5 August 1952) is a Cambodian politician and former military commander who has served as the prime minister of Cambodia since 1985. He is the longest-serving head of government of Cambodia, and ...
,
Prime Minister of Cambodia
The prime minister of Cambodia ( km, នាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រីនៃកម្ពុជា, ) is the head of government of Cambodia. The prime minister is also the chairman of the Cabinet of Cambodia, Cabinet and leads the ex ...
*
Gianni Infantino, president of
FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
.
*
Daisaku Ikeda, president of
Soka Gakkai International (Japan)
*
Jayakanthan
D. Jayakanthan (24 April 1934 – 8 April 2015), popularly known as JK, was an Indian writer, journalist, orator, filmmaker, critic and activist. Born in Cuddalore, he dropped out of school at the age of 9 and went to Madras, where he joi ...
, Tamil writer (India), 2011
*
Akhmad Kadyrov, President of
Chechnya
Chechnya ( rus, Чечня́, Chechnyá, p=tɕɪtɕˈnʲa; ce, Нохчийчоь, Noxçiyçö), officially the Chechen Republic,; ce, Нохчийн Республика, Noxçiyn Respublika is a republic of Russia. It is situated in the ...
*
Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress
*
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov ( rus, links=no, Анато́лий Евге́ньевич Ка́рпов, p=ɐnɐˈtolʲɪj jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈkarpəf; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet chess grandmaster, former World Che ...
, chess player, for his great contribution to strengthening peace and friendship between peoples and productive social activities
*
Roman Abramovich
Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich (, ; he, רומן ארקדיביץ' אברמוביץ'; born 24 October 1966) is a Russian oligarch and politician. He is the former owner of Chelsea, a Premier League football club in London, England, and is the ...
, owner of
Chelsea F.C
*
Prince Michael of Kent
Prince Michael of Kent, (Michael George Charles Franklin; born 4 July 1942) is a member of the British royal family, who is 51st in the line of succession to the British throne as of September 2022. Queen Elizabeth II and Michael were firs ...
, cousin of Queen
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states durin ...
and descendant of
Tsar Alexander II of Russia; a qualified
interpreter of
Russian (UK). He returned the honour in the aftermath of the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. A ...
.
*
Vakhtang Kikabidze
Vakhtang Kikabidze ( ka, ვახტანგ კიკაბიძე; born on July 19, 1938), also known as Buba ( ka, ბუბა) is a Georgian (formerly Soviet) singer, actor, screenwriter, producer, composer and politician who has served ...
, singer and actor (the award was rejected by Kikabidze in August 2008) (Georgia)
*
Emir Kusturica
Emir Kusturica ( sr-cyrl, Емир Кустурица; born 24 November 1954) is a Serbian film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and musician. He also has French citizenship.http://www.serbia.com/emir-kusturica-artist-builder-and-anti-glo ...
, Serbian filmmaker, actor and musician
*
André Kuipers
André Kuipers (; born 5 October 1958) is a Dutch physician and ESA astronaut. He became the second Dutch citizen, third Dutch-born and fifth Dutch-speaking astronaut upon launch of Soyuz TMA-4 on 19 April 2004. Kuipers returned to Earth a ...
,
ESA astronaut
An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
(Netherlands)
*
Christine Lagarde, President of the
European Central Bank
The European Central Bank (ECB) is the prime component of the monetary Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's most important centra ...
and former Managing Director of the
IMF
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster glob ...
(France)
*
Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew (16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015), born Harry Lee Kuan Yew, often referred to by his initials LKY, was a Singaporean lawyer and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Singapore between 1959 and 1990, and Secretary-General o ...
,
Minister Mentor of
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
*
Valery Leontiev, pop singer
*
Yulia Lipnitskaya, figure skater, received award for outstanding performance at the 2014
Sochi Winter Olympics
The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games (russian: XXII Олимпийские зимние игры, XXII Olimpiyskiye zimniye igry) and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (russian: Сочи 2014), was an international ...
*
Antonio Mennini
Antonio Mennini (born 2 September 1947) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. having been appointed by Pope Benedict XVI, he served as the Nuncio to Great Britain from 18 December 2010 until 6 February 2017 when Pope Francis transferr ...
,
Apostolic Nuncio to Russia (2002–2010) for his contribution to the development of Russian-Vatican relations (Vatican)
*
Ralph Munro (1998)
*
Aliya Mustafina
Aliya Farkhatovna Mustafina (russian: Алия Фархатовна Мустафина) is a Russian former artistic gymnast. With a combined total of 45 Olympic, World and European Championship medals, she is considered one of the most successf ...
, Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics
*
Riccardo Muti
Riccardo Muti, (; born 28 July 1941) is an Italian conductor. He currently holds two music directorships, at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and at the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini. Muti has previously held posts at the Maggio Musicale ...
, conductor (Italy)
*
Oscar Niemeyer
Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho (15 December 1907 – 5 December 2012), known as Oscar Niemeyer (), was a Brazilian architect considered to be one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture. Niemeyer was ...
, renowned architect (Brazil)
*
God Nisanov
In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
, billionaire property developer
*
Sagadat Nurmagambetov, Defense Minister of Kazakhstan
*
Constantine Orbelian
Constantine Garrievich Orbelian, Jr. ( hy, Կոնստանտին Օրբելյան, russian: Константин Гарриевич Орбелян, born San Francisco, 27 August 1956) is an American conductor and pianist of Armenian and Russian des ...
, conductor and pianist, 2012 Medal Recipient
*
Richard Pierce, a historian of Russian-American studies
(US)
*
A. Sivathanu Pillai, BrahMos chief (India)
*
Marcel Prud'homme, Senator (Canada)
*
Grigory Rodchenkov, director of
Russia's national antidoping laboratory who later defected and exposed
Russian doping system (awarded prior to the scandal)
*
Jacques Rogge
Jacques Jean Marie Rogge, Count Rogge (, ; 2 May 1942 – 29 August 2021) was a Belgian sports administrator and physician who served as the eighth President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 2001 to 2013. In 2013, Rogge bec ...
, 8th President of the
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swis ...
(Belgium)
*
Buvaisar Saitiev, three-time Olympic gold medal wrestler
*
Vladimir Sangi, Nivkh author, publicist, and language activist
*
Ekaterina Semenikhin, honorary consul of Russia in Monaco
*
Mrinal Sen
Mrinal Sen (''Beng.'' মৃণাল সেন; 14 May 1923 – 30 December 2018) was an Indian film director, and screenwriter known for his work primarily in Bengali, and few Hindi and Telugu language films. Regarded as one of the finest Ind ...
, film director (India)
*
Dimitris Sioufas, legislator (Greece)
*
Dario Salas Sommer, Chilean philosopher
*
James W. Symington
James Wadsworth Symington (; born September 28, 1927) is an American lawyer and politician who represented Missouri from 1969 to 1977 as a four-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Prior to that, in the late 1960s, he served as Chief ...
, a former member of the
U.S. House of Representatives and current attorney at Nossaman LLP/O'Connor & Hannan (US)
*
Rex Tillerson
Rex Wayne Tillerson (born March 23, 1952) is an American engineer and energy executive who served as the 69th U.S. secretary of state from February 1, 2017, to March 31, 2018, under President Donald Trump. Prior to joining the Trump administ ...
, U.S. Secretary of State under President Donald Trump, and former CEO of
ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 3 ...
*
Mari Törőcsik
Mari Törőcsik (born Marián Törőcsik; 23 November 1935 – 16 April 2021) was a Hungarian stage and film actress. She appeared in more than 170 films from 1956 to 2020. She won the award for Best Actress at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival ...
, Hungarian actress
*
Andrzej Wajda
Andrzej Witold Wajda (; 6 March 1926 – 9 October 2016) was a Polish film and theatre director. Recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Honorary Golden Bear Awards, he was a prominent member of the ...
, film director (Poland)
*
Rowan Williams,
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Just ...
, recognised for contributions to friendly relations between Russia and the
UK, and his love of Russian literature (UK)
*
Tatjana Ždanoka
Tatjana Ždanoka or Tatyana Zhdanok (russian: Татья́на Арка́дьевна Ждано́к, ''Tatyana Arkadyevna Zhdanok''; born Tatyana Khesin (''Хесин'') on May 8, 1950 in Riga) is a Latvian politician and a Member of the Europea ...
, politician (Latvia)
*
Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Ministe ...
, eighth secretary-general of the United Nations
*
Xavier Rolet
Xavier R. Rolet (born 12 November 1959) is a French businessman and the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of World Quantum Growth Acquisition Corporation, a NYSE-listed company (WQGA.U). He was CEO of CQS until January 2020, and before ...
, CEO London Stock Exchange Group
*
Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space
*
Alina Zagitova
Alina Ilnazovna Zagitova ( rus, Алина Ильназовна Загитова, , ɐˈlʲinə zɐˈɡʲitəvə; born 18 May 2002) is a Russian figure skater of Volga- Tatar origin. She is the 2018 Olympic champion, the 2019 World champion, ...
, a Russia competitive figure skater
[
*]Kassym-Jomart Tokayev
Kassym-Jomart Kemeluly Tokayev ( kk, Қасым-Жомарт Кемелұлы Тоқаев, Qasym-Jomart Kemelūly Toqaev ; born 17 May 1953) is a Kazakh politician and diplomat who is currently serving as the President of Kazakhstan since 12 J ...
, President of Kazakhstan
* Mehriban Aliyeva, First Vice-President of Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
*Megawati Sukarnoputri
Diah Permata Megawati Setiawati Sukarnoputri (; born 23 January 1947) is an Indonesian politician who served as the fifth president of Indonesia from 2001 to 2004. She previously served as the eighth vice president from 1999 to 2001.
Megawati i ...
, 5th President of Indonesia
*Alexander (Ishein)
Archbishop Alexander (; 13 June 1952 – 10 June 2021) was an Azerbaijani prelate, who served as the archbishop of Russian Orthodox diocese of Baku and Azerbaijan from 1999 until his death in 2021.
Biography
Born on June 13, 1952, in Yarosla ...
, Archbishop of Baku and Azerbaijan from 1999 to 2021
* Péter Szijjártó Hungarian politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, awarded in December 2021
*Boris Dobrodeev
Boris Tikhonovich Dobrodeyev (28 April 1927 – 23 September 2022) was a Russian screenwriter. He was honored with the medals Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", Order of Friendship, Order of the Badge of Honour, Lenin Prize, Vasilyev Brothers ...
, screenwriter
* Maria Zakharova, Director of the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation
*Vija Artmane, actor
*Luke Mallicoat (2022)
See also
* Order of Friendship of Peoples (Soviet Union)
*Awards and decorations of the Russian Federation
The State Award System of the Russian Federation has varied and distinct origins. The first being pre-1917 orders of the Russian Empire re-established after the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union, the second is from former Soviet orders that w ...
References
External links
The Commission on State Awards to the President of the Russian Federation
The Russian Gazette
{{DEFAULTSORT:Order Of Friendship
Civil awards and decorations of Russia
Orders, decorations, and medals of Russia
Russian awards
Awards established in 1994
1994 establishments in Russia