Andrey Shmemen, the Chairman of the Union of Cadets of the Russian cadet corps in France.
He is a doyen and spiritual leader of Russian emigrants in France. He actively supports national culture, the Russian language and Russian spiritual values. He assists the revival of the cadet corps and cadet movement in France and in Russia.
He is a co-founder and chairman of the public organisation Movement for Local Orthodoxy in Western Europe. He is a dedicated supporter of the return of emigrants to the Russian Orthodox Church. He holds the clerical title of sub deacon and is a warden in the Paris church Notre-Dame-du-Signe. He is the author of numerous academic works on theology and the orthodox tradition of Christianity.
Throughout his life Shmeman has lived with the so-called Nansen passport, a temporary certificate of identity that was used as replacement for documents for stateless persons and refugees. The Russian President presented him with a Russian passport in 2005. Shmeman considered that day very special and commented: "I have always been Russian in my soul... I'm happy that I have finally found my Fatherland... I'm glad that Russia returned to those moral values with which it has been living with for the last thousand years."
He was awarded the Pushkin medal by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, to mark his great contribution to the preservation of national historical and cultural heritage.
Alexander Bobrikov, the Director of the Museum of His Majesty's Lifeguards Cossack Regiment. A unique collection of Russian military relics is gathered and preserved in the museum. Thanks to the efforts of Bobrikov the museum became a focal point for Russian emigrants' patriotic activities in France, spiritually uniting former officers of the Cossack lifeguard regiment and their descendants.
He participates in organising military holidays of Don, Kuban and Terek Cossack units together with Russian Cossack unions.
Bobrikov maintains good contacts with authorities of military and historical museums of St Petersburg and the Leningrad Region.
He was awarded the Pushkin medal by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, in recognition of his great contribution to the preservation of national historical and cultural heritage.
Prince Alexander Trubetskoy, Chairman of the Association in Memory of the Imperial Guard, co-founder and member of the Movement for Local Orthodoxy in Western Europe, member of the Coordination Council of the World Congress of Compatriots. He is an active participant and initiator of many patriotic events of Russians in France and in Russia.
He assists the strengthening of cooperation between Russia and France in the area of culture and education, helping familiarise the French with the cultural traditions of our country and promotion of the Russian language and Russian spiritual values.
He helped organise celebrations of the 120th anniversary of Bulgarian independence, which was declared during the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, and the 200th anniversary of Alexander Suvorov's crossing of the Alps.
He continually provides financial assistance to Russian exhibitions and sporting projects in France.
He was awarded the medal In Memory of the 300th Anniversary of St Petersburg and the Pushkin medal by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, in recognition of his great contribution to the preservation of national historical and cultural heritage.
Prince Dmitry Shakhovskoy, Honorary professor of Rennes University and professor at the St Sergius Institute of Orthodox Theology in Paris. He is a descendant of an ancient Russian family, tracing his lineage back to Prince Rourick of Novgorod.
Prince Shakhovskoy is an outstanding slavicist in France. For many years he has headed departments of the Russian language and history in leading French universities. He is the author and publisher of the multivolume work "Russian society and nobility". He is a founder and editor-in-chief of the Russian Abroad Newspaper, published with the assistance of the Paris Centre of the Russian Language and Culture. Alongside other outstanding representatives of the Russian community abroad he became a co-founder and vice-president of the Movement for Local Orthodoxy in Western Europe.
He received Russian citizenship in 2006.
He was awarded the Pushkin medal by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation in recognition of his great contribution to preservation of national historical and cultural heritage.
Count Pyotr Sheremetev, President of the Russian Musical Society in France.
An architect, he graduated from the Higher Architectural School in Paris and has designed many buildings in Paris and the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Russia. He organised fund raising for the restoration and preservation of the Orthodox Church of Alexander Nevsky in Paris more than 20 years ago, with the assistance of Jacques Chirac, who was the Mayor of Paris at that time.
He is a founder and rector of the Russian Sergey Rakhmaninov Conservatory in Paris and the Russian Musical Society in France. He takes an active part in Russian-French programmes in the area of musical art. He was honoured with the title of Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts in 2002.
Count Sheremetev has been the chairman of the Presidium of the International Council of Russian Compatriots since 2004, and is also a member of the Coordinating Council of the World Congress of Compatriots. Count Sheremetev's selfless work and deserved authority greatly contribute to the consolidation of Russian emigrant organisations and the strengthening of their ties with the historical Fatherland.
He was recommended for the Order of Friendship in February, 2008 for his contribution to the development of the Russian compatriots movement abroad and the preservation of national historical and cultural heritage.