Order of Friendship

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge being awarded the Order of Friendship by Russian president Dmitry Medvedev on November 22, 2011 at the Moscow Kremlin. Manfred Schmidt, Head of the Department for Crisis Management of the German Interior Ministry, being decorated with the Order of Friendship by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on October 13, 2010 at the Moscow Kremlin. Prince Michael of Kent receives the Order of Friendship from Russian president Dmitry Medvedev on November 4, 2009, at the Moscow Kremlin. He later returned the honour in the aftermath of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. CEO of ExxonMobil Rex Tillerson receiving the Order of Friendship from Russian president Vladimir Putin on June 21, 2013 during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. FIFA president Gianni Infantino after receiving the Order of Friendship from Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 23, 2019 at the Moscow Kremlin. The Order of Friendship (Russian: Орден Дружбы, Orden Druzhby) is a state decoration of the Russian Federation established by Boris Yeltsin by presidential decree 442 of 2 March 1994 to reward Russian and foreign nationals whose work, deeds and efforts have been aimed at the betterment of relations with the Russian Federation and its people. The design of order was created by Alexander Zhuk [ru]. Its statute was later amended by presidential decree 19 of 6 January 1999, presidential decree 1999 of 7 September 2010, presidential decree 1631 of 16 December 2011, and presidential decree 308 of 16 March 2012. The Order of Friendship is the direct successor of the Soviet Order of Friendship of Peoples and like the latter, its insignia was similarly designed by Alexander Zhuk.

Award statute