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Presenting Hero of Labour medals


Ahead of Spring and Labour Day, a ceremony for presenting the Hero of Labour of the Russian Federation gold medals took place in the Kremlin’s St Catherine Hall. Five Russians were decorated for special services to the state and the people.
April 29, 2019
14:10
The Kremlin, Moscow






Presenting Hero of Labour medals.

The President presented Hero of Labour medals to Sergei Antonov, head of the fishing equipment and tackle gear department of Yuzhmorrybflot; Olga Bochkareva, hump yard operator at Inskaya railway station; Nikolai Zharkov, adviser to General Director of Krasnoye Sormovo plant; Vasily Lanovoy, actor at Vakhtangov State Academic Theatre; and Iskhak Mashbashev, writer, chairman of the Board of the Union of Writers of Adygea.

The title of the Hero of Labour of Russia was established in March 2013 and is awarded for outstanding achievements in public, social and economic activity; for contribution to the country’s socioeconomic development, including industrial production, agriculture, transport, construction, science, culture, education, healthcare and other areas.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, friends,

I am very glad to meet you all on the eve of the holiday, May 1, and to present to you the Hero of Labour gold medals.

The word ‘hero’ speaks volumes. Heroes are courageous, steadfast and outstanding people, outstanding personalities, hard workers in the highest sense of the word. Responsible, worthy citizens of their country. All of you have these wonderful qualities, you faithfully serve Russia and the cause you have devoted your life to.

From ancient times, our ancestors valued such people, treated them with respect, and glorified honest, creative work. These traditions, these foundations are in our national mentality. The entire glorious history of Russia is filled with the achievements of her sons and daughters – hardworking, persevering, resolute, and tireless people. Our contemporaries are carrying on this glorious chronicle – people like you. And today we are honouring the heroes who have made bright, wonderful accomplishments.
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Sergei Antonov’s career is linked with the development of commercial fishing in the Primorye Territory. He knows all aspects of this sphere down to the smallest detail, as well as highly complicated fishing technologies. Mr Antonov takes his job very seriously and spends a lot of time and effort boosting the competitiveness of the national fisheries sector and its efficiency as well as training a reliable personnel reserve. His fruitful work in the interests of the Far East and the whole of Russia sets a worthy example for young people.

This wonderful team includes Olga Bochkareva, a charming woman and a real leader. She has been organising shipments and controlling traffic at Inskaya sorting station of the West Siberian Railway. This difficult job has many intricacies. Ms Bochkareva has mastered them completely, she does her duty in an impeccable manner, pays attention to introducing innovative methods, and she is a wonderful specialist and mentor.

Substantial technical achievements and notable pages in the national industry’s history are linked with the legendary Krasnoye Sormovo Shipyard in the Nizhny Novgorod Region. Honorary shipbuilder Nikolai Zharkov headed it for many years. He joined the shipyard at a very young age and worked his way through the ranks from budding specialist to general director and won tremendous prestige and authority with his co-workers and the entire shipbuilding sector. Projects the aim of which is to strengthen Russia’s combat potential and to create the national icebreaker fleet have been implemented under his supervision. Largely owing to Mr Zharkov, the shipyard continues to develop today, building multirole ships of various classes.

The high ideals of patriotism, devotion to duty and the Fatherland distinguish the work of Vasily Lanovoy. He himself and the pictures created by his talent are truly inseparable. They will continue to exist for all times and throughout all eras. The whole country knows and loves Mr Lanovoy for his vivid roles in the best domestic films and plays performed at the Vakhtangov Theatre. He is respected for his civic attitude and position of principle, for public and charity work. Now during the preparations for the great occasion, Victory Day, I would like to make a special mention of Mr Lanovoy’s enormous contribution to the protection of historical truth and the memory of the immortal exploit of our people. He devotes his entire self to this extremely important work and he is doing it sincerely, with an open heart.

Events of the Great Patriotic War are described in the literary works of Adyghe writer and poet Iskhak Mashbashev. His wonderful lyric poetry and works celebrating the glory of the North Caucasus can be heard both in Russian and other languages and his translations of Russian literature into such a rare language as Adyghe are impressive and a real treat for us. I must say that, regrettably, in the past few years, this work has not been carried out on such a large scale as in the Soviet times. We are losing a lot in this respect and all this should be restored. So we are grateful to you for your efforts in this sphere. This contribution to the mutual enrichment of cultures and augmentation of the distinctive legacy of multi-ethnic Russia deserves respect and gratitude.

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Vladimir Putin signed the Executive Order On Awarding the Hero of Labour Title
April 26, 2019

Friends, the pride and dignity of a country lie in its citizens, their heroic deeds and labour achievements. You have made outstanding achievements in developing production, transport, strengthening the defence capability and defence potential of this country, and implementing important public initiatives as well as creative undertakings.

I would like to congratulate you once again on being awarded the great title of Hero of Labour of the Russian Federation. I would like to thank you for everything that you have done and, I am sure, you will still do for your home country, for our people. I wish you every success, and of course, good health.

On the forthcoming occasion of Victory Day, I would like to wish you all the very best. Thank you.

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Vladimir Putin: Friends,

Once again I would like to congratulate the award recipients. In their acceptance remarks all of them talked about their work in one way or another, which is natural and quite predictable. They have worked all their lives; they are working now and will continue to work. And each of them said they are willing to do even more, in fact, they mean it.

We are very grateful to you. Thank you for your work, for the results of your work and, most importantly, for your attitude to work in the name of the Fatherland. This is so important. This attitude is no less important than the results of your work.

Thank you. Happy holiday.

Answer to a journalist’s question after the ceremony for presenting the Hero of Labour medals

April 29, 2019
14:20
The Kremlin, Moscow
Answer to a journalist’s question after the ceremony for presenting the Hero of Labour medals.

Question: Mr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president-elect, replied to your statement in Beijing that you are prepared to issue Russian passports not only to residents of the Donetsk republic, but also to all Ukrainian citizens. He said that he is prepared to issue passports to all Russian citizens and also to everybody who is ready to defend freedom and democracy.

Vladimir Putin: Did he? Really? Very good. This suggests that we can reach an agreement , perhaps because we have much in common. I have said on many occasions that Ukrainians and Russians are fraternal peoples. And even more: I think this is actually one people with its specific features – cultural, linguistic and historical – but in essence it is a single people. And if we have common citizenship both Russians and Ukrainians would only gain: we will be stronger and more efficient.

As for freedom and so on, this is also an important point. However, in this regard it is probably better to start not with Russia but with, say, Georgia or former Georgians. For example, it would be only fair to return a Ukrainian passport to the man who was formerly a Georgian and now considers himself a Ukrainian. I mean Mikheil Saakashvili. To my mind he was unlawfully deprived of his citizenship and unlawfully expelled from the country. It should be restored and his infringed rights should be reinstated. The same also applies to some other Ukrainian citizens who had to leave the country and go to the promised land fleeing from the current Ukrainian regime.

Question: Speaking about Mr Zelensky’s proposal on the exchange of passports you said you have much in common, short of you are like-minded persons. Could you clarify what you really meant?

Vladimir Putin: But why? Everything is very simple. If Ukraine begins issuing passports to Russian citizens and we in Russia issue passports and grant citizenship to Ukrainians then sooner or later we will inevitably come to the expected result: everybody will have single citizenship. It must be welcomed.

Telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump


Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with President of the United States of America Donald Trump, at the initiative of the American side.
May 3, 2019
19:30




The current state and prospects of bilateral relations were discussed with a focus on economic cooperation. The two presidents spoke in favour of developing mutually beneficial trade and investment relations. They affirmed their shared commitment to step up dialogue in various areas, including on issues of strategic stability.

Vladimir Putin informed Donald Trump of the key results of his April 25 meetingin Vladivostok with Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK Kim Jong-un, stressing that Pyongyang’s good-faith fulfilment of its commitments should be accompanied by reciprocal steps to ease the sanctions pressure on North Korea. Both parties noted the importance of consistent progress towards denuclearisation and achieving long-term normalisation on the Korean Peninsula.

The situation in Ukraine was touched on in the context of the recent presidential election. Vladimir Putin emphasised that the new leadership in Kiev should take real steps to implement the Minsk Agreements, which are critical to resolving the internal Ukrainian conflict.

While exchanging views on the situation around Venezuela, the President of Russia underscored that only the Venezuelans themselves have the right to determine the future of their country, whereas outside interference in the country’s internal affairs and attempts to change the government in Caracas by force undermine prospects for a political settlement of the crisis.

It was agreed to maintain contacts at various levels.

The two heads of state expressed satisfaction with the business-like and constructive nature of the conversation.