Gold Medals of Merit were awarded by President of Serbia Tomislav Nikolic to the Russian actor and director Nikita Mikhalkov and historian Natalie A. Narochnitskaya, at the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Moscow, on 28 June 2013.
Ambassador Terzic, as the personal representative of Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, welcomed the participants and expressed his pleasure at being able to present such a high recognition to the prominent Russian scientists and cultural figures. He pointed out that cultural and spiritual creativity of Natalia A. Narochnitskaya and Nikita Mikhalkov was not only well-known to the Russian, Serbian and European but to the world public, as well. Ambassador Terzic mentioned, as an illustration, the major work of N. Narochnitskaya "Russia and Russians in World History," which was translated to Serbian, and the film by Mikhalkov "Burnt by the Sun" for which he received an "Oscar" and his film "The Barber of Siberia" and others. He pointed out that N. Narochnitskaya and N. Mikhalkov had an honorable and worthy place in the long and rich history of cultural and spiritual relations between Serbia and Russia. Ambassador Terzic expressed his gratitude to N. Narochnitskaya and N. Mikhalkov for their contribution to the national cultures of the two countries and to the culture of Europe.
For their part, the recipients thanked for the reception organized in their honor and expressed their gratitude to President Nikolic for this high decoration.
The event was attended by numerous guests, representatives of ROC, SOC in RF, Director of the Institute for Strategic Studies General Resetnikov, representatives of the State Duma, MFA of RF, Advisor to the Vice President of Gazprom and the TV stations "Union", "Voice of Russia", "24 Hours", "Salvation" and others.