Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred with Russia’s highest civilian honor, the Order of St Andrew the Apostle, by President Vladimir Putin during a special ceremony at the Kremlin on Tuesday. The award, originally announced in 2019, recognizes PM Modi’s contributions to fostering India-Russia ties.
Upon receiving the award, PM Modi said, “I extend my heartfelt gratitude to you (President Putin) for honouring me with Russia’s highest (civilian) award. This honour is not just mine, this is the honour of 140 crore Indians. This is the honour of the centuries-old deep friendship and mutual trust between India and Russia. This is the honour of our special and privileged strategic partnership.”
Notably, Randhir Jaiswal, Spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs took to his official X handle and posted pictures of PM Modi and President Putin. He said, “An honour symbolising the depth of India-Russia ties! PM Narendra Modi conferred with Russia’s highest national award, the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle by President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin today.”
Interestingly, the award was instituted over 300 years ago. PM Modi is the first Indian leader to be conferred with this award. The award was bestowed on PM Modi in the year 2019, but he received it physically today.
President Putin presented the award to PM Modi, for his distinguished contribution to the development of a privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India and friendly ties between the two countries.
During the ceremony, both leaders highlighted the importance of India-Russia relations in the current global context. PM Modi said, “In today’s global atmosphere, India and Russia partnership becomes all the more important. Both of us believe that continuous efforts should be made for global stability and peace.”
The Prime Minister also praised President Putin’s leadership, crediting him with strengthening bilateral ties across all sectors over the past two and a half decades.
He added, “Our mutual cooperation, based on people-to-partnership, is becoming the hope and guarantee of a better future of our people.”
As part of his two-day visit to Russia, PM Modi also addressed the Indian community in Moscow, where he announced the opening of new Indian Consulates in Kazan and Yekaterinburg.
(Inputs from ANI)