French Ex-President Chirac Wins Top Russian Award

Chirac is honoured for his ´outstanding achievements in the humanitarian sphere´.

Former French President Jacques Chirac has won a Russian state award for his humanitarian activities, the Kremlin announced on Tuesday.

Chirac, honoured for his "outstanding achievements in the humanitarian sphere", will be the only foreigner among nine prominent figures to receive the State Award at a Kremlin ceremony on June 12, according to a presidential decree.

"This is a man who is a brilliant example of how to combine being a statesman and a cultural figure," Russian media quoted Mikhail Piotrovsky, deputy head of the presidential culture and arts council, as saying.

"This is a man who has done a lot for Russian culture as a whole," he added, pointing to Chirac's good command of Russian and the fact that as a young man he translated Russian poet Alexander Pushkin's novel in verses "Eugene Onegin" into French.

Yuri Osipov, the head of Russia's Academy of Science, said Chirac had also developed scientific contacts between Russia and France.

Winners of the State Award receive a 5 million rouble ($210,800) cash prize.