UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been honored with Russia’s Order of Friendship. The respective decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin was published on the Russian official legal information website. The officially published decree said that the decoration was awarded to Ban for special merits in strengthening peace, friendship, cooperation and mutual understanding between peoples.

Among those awarded are Prince Michael of Kent, Oscar Niemeyer, the architect of the Brazilian capital, and former President of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge. The order, set up in 1994, is meant to reward Russian citizens and foreign nationals for outstanding accomplishments in strengthening peace and cooperation with Russia, as well as for charity activities.

Ban Ki-moon

• He took office and became the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations on 1 January 2007
• In June 2011, he was re-elected and will continue to serve as the UN chief until 31 December 2016.
• Before becoming Secretary-General, he was a career diplomat in South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations.
• He entered diplomatic service the year he graduated from university, accepting his first post in New Delhi, India.
• Ban was the foreign minister of South Korea from January 2004 to November 2006.