Other events in Baltic States

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev has awarded former President of Lithuania Algirdas Brazauskas the Order of Honour for his significant contribution to cooperation between Russia and Lithuania and good neighbourly relations, informs LETA/ELTA/ITAR-TASS.

Brazauskas was elected as the first president of Lithuania in February 1993. During his term of office, Lithuania and Russia signed important documents.

Brazauskas had also served as the prime minister of Lithuania since July 2001. However, due to a governmental crisis, he resigned from the office on 31 May 2006 and retired from politics. Brazauskas headed the Government for five years, which made him the longest serving prime minister ever. He entered the history of Lithuania as a pragmatic politician who managed to improve relations with the neighbouring countries, including Russia.

The Order of Honour is a state order which was founded by the President's Decree of the Russian Federation of 2 March 1994. The Order of Honour is awarded to citizens for high achievements in government, economic production, scientific research, sociocultural, public and charitable activities which essentially made it possible to improve conditions of life in the country, for merits in training highly skilled personnel, training the growing up generation, and the maintenance of legality and law.