The Kremlin press service reports that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has awarded the Order of Honour to Latvian songwriter Raimonds Pauls who has been widely popular in Russia already since Soviet times.
Medvedev has also awarded the Order of Friendship to Latvian National Opera director Andrejs Žagars and Daugavpils University rector Arvīds Barševskis. Raimonds Pauls told: “I am grateful for the award and I regard it as a gesture of appreciation of his musical achievements”.
The head of the Russian Presidential Administration Sergey Naryshkin, who was visiting Latvia, presented the Russian state decorations. Naryshkin said that the decorations confirmed not only close cultural relations between Latvia and Russian but also that “we have a lot in common – common history, common spiritual wealth that we must definitely make use of. It is also a signal that we count on development of constructive relations between our countries in economic, political and social issues.”
