MOSCOW, December 11. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to give a state award to human rights champion Lyudmila Alexeyeva, 90, who heads the Moscow Helsinki Group, for her outstanding achievements in 2017.

Alexeyeva was born on July 20, 1927, in Eupatoria, Crimea. In 1952, she became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, from which she was expelled in 1968 for participation in dissident activities. In 1976, she became one of the founders of the human rights organization "Soviet Public Support Group for Implementation of Helsinki Accords" (later renamed the Moscow Helsinki Group).

The group was created after the heads of 35 countries, including the Soviet Union, signed the final act of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe in 1975 in Helsinki. The group’s major goals are to gather and analyze information on human rights violations in the country, promote human rights ideas, defend culture, languages and traditions of Russian ethnic groups.

Under the decree, Vladimir Vavilov, who chairs the Angela Vavilova Charity Foundation, also received a state award for his achievements in charity activity in 2017. This is the only hospice in Tatarstan, in the Volga Federal District, founded in 2003 by Vladimir and Marina Vavilov, the relatives of a three-year-old Angela Vavilova, who died of leukemia.