The New Jersey Nets basketball club owner will receive the Chevalier, or Knight, designation of the decoration at a ceremony at the French Embassy in Moscow on March 14, an official in the embassy’s press service said by phone today, declining to be identified because of government policy.
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour (French: Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the First Republic, on 19 May 1802. The Order is the highest decoration in France and is divided into five various degrees: Chevalier (Knight), Officier (Officer), Commandeur (Commander), Grand Officier (Grand Officer) and Grand Croix (Grand Cross).
The order’s motto is Honneur et Patrie (“Honour and Fatherland”), and its seat is the Palais de la Légion d’Honneur on the left bank of the River Seine in Paris.Mikhail Prokhorov will receive the Chevalier, or Knight award.
The honor is recognition of Prokhorov’s efforts to deepen cultural ties between the two countries, the official said. Prokhorov sponsored a number of events in 2010, dubbed the “Year of Russia” in France and the “Year of France” in Russia, including a French literary event in Siberia and an exhibit about Siberia in Lyon, the official said.
French police held Prokhorov for several days in January 2007 in the ski resort of Courchevel, where he was vacationing with a group of friends that included eight young women who were mistakenly believed to be prostitutes, the billionaire said in an interview last year. French state prosecutor Xavier Richaud said by phone after Prokhorov’s release that the billionaire had nothing to do with “pimping.”
As late as February 2009, Prokhorov, according to his Onexim Group holding company, refused to do business with France until the government apologized, which it did last year. Onexim now has an agreement with French energy services company Dalkia SA to work on energy-saving projects in Russia.
The investor, who owns stakes in aluminum producer United Co. Rusal, investment bank Renaissance Capital and OAO Polyus Gold, increased his wealth by almost $5 billion last year to $22.7 billion, making him the second-richest Russian, Moscow- based Finans magazine said in its annual rich list published this week. Only OAO Novolipetsk Steel owner Vladimir Lisin’s $28.3 billion fortune is bigger, according to Finans.
Russia hopes the Year of Russia in France and the Year of France in Russia will strengthen bilateral ties, the Russian presidential administration chief said Monday.
The year of events will officially kick off March 2, when President Dmitry Medvedev is to open the Holy Russia exhibition at the Louvre museum in Paris.
Earlier it was reported that the program includes over 150 cultural and communications events, 38 economic projects and over 70 events in science, education, sports and youth exchanges.
Events will involve experts and civil society representatives.
In other news Russian metals tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov on Wednesday supported the offer the Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel (GMKN.MM: Quote) made to buy out a 20 percent share from aluminium giant RUSAL (0486.HK: Quote) for $12.8 billion.
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