Russia to honour Modi for promoting partnership

Russia announced its decision to confer the country's highest state honour -- the Order of St Andrew the Apostle -- on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his "exceptional services" in promoting the strategic partnership between the two countries.

President Vladimir Putin signed the decree on decorating Modi with the award for his "distinguished achievement in development of the special and privileged strategic partnership" between India and Russia and friendly ties between the people of the two sides, our New Delhi correspondent reports quoting a statement released from the Russian Embassy yesterday.

Modi, in a Twitter post, said he was honoured to receive the Russian honour and thanked Putin and the people of that country.

The Russian honour came a little over a week after the United Arab Emirates announced it would give its highest civilian honour, the Zayed Medal, to Modi for his pivotal role in boosting the strategic relationship between the two countries.

The Russian award was first established in 1698 but it was abolished during the Communist era, before being revived in 1998. Since then, it has been conferred on 18 people, most of them Russians, such as AK-47 rifle designer Mikhail Kalashnikov, former president Mikhail Gorbachev and author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Among foreign recipients of the award are China's President Xi Jinping and former Azerbaijan president Heydar Aliyev.

The award signifies the "special and enduring strategic partnership between India and Russia marked by exceptional warmth and friendship", the correspondent also reports quoting a statement by the Indian External Affairs Ministry.

This is the seventh international award conferred on Modi since he became the Prime Minister of India in May, 2014. The other awards are:  Zayed Medal of the UAE (2019), the Seoul Peace Prize, UN Champions of the Earth Award, Grand Collar of the State of Palestine (all in 2018), Amir Abdullah Khan Award of Afghanistan and King Abdullaziz Sash of Saudi Arabia (both in 2016). Four of the awards are from Islamic states.