MOSCOW, November 4. /TASS/. Dialogue between nations on the basis on common interests will help settle problems between states and cooperate in the interests of all nations, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday at a ceremony of decorating foreign nationals with Russian state awards for their contribution to the development of relations with Russia.
The ceremony was timed to mark Russia’s national holiday, Unity Day, on November 4.
"If we rely on what unites us rather than on current contradictions of today <…> we will together go forward in the interests of our nations," he said.
Orders of Friendship were awarded to Zagreb’s Mayor Milan Bandic, President and CEO of Fort Ross Conservancy Sarah Sweedler, founder of To Children with Love charity Debbie Deegan, Russia’s Honorary Consul in Spain’s Balearic Islands Sebastian Roig y Monserrat, and Adviser to the Lebanese Prime Minister George Shaaban.
Pushkin medals were awarded to choreographer of the Slovak National Theatre Rafael Avnikyan, actor of the Serbian National Theatre Milos Bikovic, Chairman of the London-based bank Noble Grossart Ltd Angus Grossart, Mayor of Spain’s Malaga Francisco de la Torre Prados, Czech musician Jaromir Nohavica, and chairman of the board of the Ukrainian union of public organizations Russian Commonwealth Sergei Provatorov.
