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Italy revokes awards from 10 Russian business people, officials — report

Earlier, Italy revoked awards given to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov

ROME, August 23. /TASS/. Ten Russians, including business people and officials, have been stripped of Italian awards, the Ansa news service reported on Tuesday.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella signed three decrees ordering the move on account that the people were unworthy of the honors, after a proposal from the Foreign Ministry to do so, the report said.

The people that were stripped of the decorations include Deputy Foreign Ministers Alexander Grushko and Yevgeny Ivanov, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Alexey Gordeyev, Chairman of the Management Board of Sberbank German Gref, Head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriyev, Chairman of the Management Board and CEO of Gazprom Neft Alexander Dyukov, President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Shokhin, and businessman Andrey Melnichenko. Italy also previously seized Melnichenko’s yacht that’s worth more than half a billion euros.

Darya Dugina, 29, worked in mass media outlets, including as a correspondent in Donbass. She was killed in the evening of August 20, when an explosive device went off in her car travelling along a highway.

They were earlier awarded with the Order of the Star of Italy that’s conferred on foreigners for their achievements in promoting cooperation between their countries and Italy. After the start of the Russian special military operation, the Italian leadership announced its intention to strip Russians of awards over Russia's actions in Ukraine.

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