President Vladimir Putin awarded the first deputy head of the presidential administration Sergei Kiriyenko and the deputy prime minister for the defense industry Yuri Borisov with the title of Hero of Russia. Kommersant's interlocutors say that they have been awarded top ranks in the Russian Federation for the achievements of the defense sector, including the president who told during a message to the Federal Assembly on March 1. " Also, several employees of the state corporation Rosatom received high awards.

The curator of the Kremlin's internal political bloc, Sergei Kiriyenko, received the title of Hero of Russia, "sources" in state structures told Kommersant. It was appropriated to him by a closed presidential decree. According to the provision on the title of Hero of the Russian Federation, it is appropriated "for merits before the state and people associated with the performance of the heroic deed". The title is conferred by the president. The Hero of the Russian Federation is also awarded the "Gold Star" medal and the certificate of conferring the title. The hero of Russia in his homeland, under a separate presidential decree, sets up a bronze bust with the corresponding inscription.

Kommersant sources say that the assignment of Mr. Kirienko to the top ranks was influenced by his role in the development of the nuclear industry (he headed Rosatom from 2005 to 2016), and in addition, the president appreciated Mr. Kirienko's contribution to his election campaign. On March 18, Vladimir Putin received more than half of the votes for the first time in the history of Russian elections: 56.4 million votes out of 108.9 million with a turnout of 67.9%. He surpassed his own record of 2004 by 6.8 million - then he went for a second term. Kommersant's interlocutors say that along with the curator of the internal political bloc, several other Rosatom employees were also awarded.

One of the sources of Kommersant, who are familiar with the situation, confirms that in the last few months a number of awards have been held in the nuclear industry for employees working on defense issues. The interlocutor of "Kommersant" did not explain what projects, but said that before the president addressed the Federal Assembly on March 1, within the framework of which Vladimir Putin spoke about new types of weapons, the leadership of the military division of the state corporation, including the first deputy general director Ivan Kamensky , was on long business trips. According to Kommersant's information, Rosatom is involved in testing missiles with the 9M730 nuclear power plant Burevestnik (the development of the Novator OKB Novator): in particular, the specialists of the Russian federal nuclear center, the All-Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics (ZATO Sarov, Nizhny Novgorod region) filed testimony when launching missiles of this type from the central nuclear test site of the Russian Federation (Novaya Zemlya Island). Another interlocutor of Kommersant says that shortly after the message to the Federal Assembly, Vladimir Putin met with some scientists who could take part in advanced military developments. The head of state was accompanied by Sergei Kiriyenko. Officially, this was not reported.

Sources of Kommersant believe that Yury Borisov, Vice Premier for the OPK, received a distinctive mark of the Hero of Russia for the work on a number of the same "presidential projects" related to the creation of weapons based on new physical principles. Until May 2018, he was in charge of procurement and development of weapons under the status of Deputy Defense Minister. "They did a lot of work, including through joint projects with Rosatom," says one high-ranking official. According to him, a number of closed decrees were signed at the end of May.