Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the Kremlin on Tuesday, awarded Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi the Order of St. Andrew, Russia's highest and oldest state honor, under a special decree issued in 2019. In the ceremonial event, Putin stated: "The conferral of the Order of St. Andrew to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is awarded to government leaders and prominent officials of foreign countries for their outstanding services. We present it today in the Kremlin in a grand ceremony."
Putin added: "Dear friend, this award recognizes your contributions to cooperation and understanding between our peoples, as you have always stood by building bridges since your time as Foreign Minister. You have always helped ensure that the relationship between our countries has a distinctive strategic character."
For his part, Prime Minister Modi expressed his "gratitude and thanks for this high honor" in his speech. Modi remarked: "It is an honor to represent the Indian people consisting of 1.4 billion citizens and a recognition of the close relations between our peoples." He noted that over the past 25 years, relations between Russia and India have strengthened in various fields.
