By Kostas Onisenko
“On the 15th of February 2021, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, in honour of the Day of Statehood of Serbia, awarded state awards to prominent political and cultural figures of the country as well as foreign citizens.
“Among the award-winning figures – His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill, Vice President of the Russian Federation Yuri Borisov and Russian sculptor Alexander Rukasnikov,” according to the official website of the Moscow Patriarchate.
According to the same source, the award was bestowed upon Patriarch Kirill “for having developed and strengthened friendly relations and cooperation between Russia and Serbia.”
The President of Serbia thanked all those awarded for their “friendship” and the “development of relations and the promotion of Serbian culture in the world,” the announcement concludes.