The ceremony of the Person of the Year 2017 Russian National Award by the Russian Biography Institute was held at the Sergievsky Hall of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
The Spasskaya Tower International Military Music Festival, its first music director People’s Artists of Russia Valery Khalilov (30th January 1952 — 25th December 2016, died tragically in a Black Sea air crush near Sochi) and the member of the Festival’s Public Council, Chief of the Kremlin’s Commandment’s Service of the Russian Federal Security Guard Service Lieutenant Colonel Sergey Khlebnikov won the nomination for «State Administrative Body, Companies and Organizations».
The Person of the Year International Award was established 25 years ago; it has seen among its prizewinners both individuals and teams of various institutions. This year its recipients include Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the staff of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Russian Minister of Defence Sergey Shoygu and his Office for consolidating Russian presence in the international landscape. This year’s list also boasts the Bakulev Cardiovascular Surgery Center led by Leo Bokeria, the Sretensky Monastery whose vicar, the bishop of Yegoryevsk Tikhon (Shevkunov) received the award for his public educational services, as well as cinema directors Karen Shakhnazarov and Igor Ugolnikov, publisher Oleg Novikov and other renowned personalities of the Russian culture, science and education.