United Transitional Cabinet Awards Medals and Cross of Good Neighbourliness to Nine People

The United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus has decided to award the Cross of Good Neighbourliness, the Francysk Skaryna Medal, and the “For Fruitful Work for the Benefit of Belarus” medal. The relevant resolutions were signed on May 1 by Cabinet head Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. The recipients were nominated by civil society organisations and activists and approved by the Cabinet’s awards commission.

The Cross of Good Neighbourliness was awarded to Björn Olof Söder, a Swedish politician, member of the Riksdag, member of the Defence Committee, the Military Delegation and the delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, and head of the Swedish delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

The Francysk Skaryna Medal was awarded to Thomas Michael Bohn, a German scholar and one of the leading specialists in the study and promotion of Belarusian history in Western academia.

The “For Fruitful Work for the Benefit of Belarus” medal was awarded to seven individuals:

• Cecilia Ekman, a Swedish lawyer assisting Belarusians in Sweden with legal matters;
• Ilva Everte, a Latvian journalist, founder and representative of FreeBelarus in Riga;
• Alan Flowers, a British scholar and long-time researcher of Chernobyl, human rights and Belarusian culture;
• Kiryl Kirylau, a civic activist in the Belarusian community in Finland;
• Aliaksandr Piatukhou, an activist in the Belarusian community in Scotland and coordinator of humanitarian aid for political prisoners, refugees and Belarusian volunteers in Ukraine;
• Aliaksandr Lozka, a Belarusian folklorist and founder of a Belarusian school project in Warsaw;
• Maria Rud’, a Belarusian diaspora activist and chair of the association RAZAM Berlin / Belarusische Gemeinschaft RAZAM e.V.