Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded the Chairman of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko the title of Hero of Labor. Decree on this published on the portal of legal acts. It says that the title was awarded “for special labor services to the state and the people.”
Matvienko turns 75 today. Presenting high awards for anniversaries is a Soviet tradition, which is also supported in modern Russia. On her 70th birthday, Matvienko was awarded the highest Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. She is also a full holder of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland.
Matvienko began receiving awards back in Soviet times: in 1976, when she was 27 years old, she was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor (Putin has the same order), and then the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. Matvienko was then secretary of the Leningrad regional committee of the Komsomol.
She has headed the Federation Council since 2011; under her leadership, the highest house of parliament invariably approves the authorities’ initiatives. Twice, in 2014 and 2022, the Federation Council gave consent to the entry of Russian troops into Ukraine.
The title of Hero of Labor, which continues the tradition of the Soviet title “Hero of Socialist Labor”, was introduced by Putin in 2013, since then it has been awarded to about 100 people, including, for example, director Nikita Mikhalkov, a State Duma deputy who gained just over 4% of votes, Nikolai Kharitonov, late former Soviet Prime Minister Nikolai Ryzhkov.
