MOSCOW, March 21 (RIA Novosti) - President Vladimir Putin will award the inaugural state prize for achievements in the humanitarian sphere at a Kremlin ceremony June 12, the presidential press office said in a statement Tuesday.
The statement said the prize, proposed by the presidential Council on Culture and Art, aimed to consolidate society and highlight the importance the state attaches to society's spiritual development.
The new prize will be awarded along with already existing prizes for accomplishments in science, technology, literature, and the arts.
"The prize will be given to prominent figures engaging in intensive humanitarian activities in the interests of certain people and society as a whole," the Kremlin said.
June 12 was declared Russian Independence Day in 1991, following the breakup of the Soviet Union. The holiday was later renamed Russia Day.
