Russian information agency RosBusinessConsulting has held The Person of the Year award ceremony in the Patriarshy Palace of the Moscow Kremlin.

The event was attended by plenipotentiary Russian government representative at the arbitration, supreme and constitutional courts Mikhail Barshchevsky, head of the human rights commission under the Russian president Ella Pamfilova, rector of the Russian Finance Academy Alla Gryaznova, general director of Gazprom-Media Nikolay Senkevich, president of the Russian financial corporation Andrey Nechaev, state duma deputy speaker Sergey Baburin, duma deputies Vladislav Tretyak and Alexey Mitrofanov, chairman of the board of directors of YUKOS Viktor Gerashchenko, chairman of the board of directors of Wimm-Bill-Dann David Yakobashvili, and by musician Mstislav Rostropovich with his wife Galina Vishnevskaya.

President of Russian Railways Gennady Fadeyev was first to receive a Grand Prix award "for personal contribution to the development and modernization of Russia's railway transport infrastructure and boosting its transit potential." He was running late for a business meeting and the organizers of the event had to make changes to the scenario of the ceremony and invite him first to receive the award. Fadeyev thanked the expert council for recognizing his success. Chairman of the audit chamber of Russian Sergey Stepashin was given a Grand Prix award "for personal contribution to boosting the efficiency and public value of the audit chamber of Russia (unfortunately, he couldn't come to the ceremony). General director of Aeroflot-Russian Airlines Valery Okulov received a Grand Prix "for personal contribution to ensuring the company's competitiveness on world markets, and impressive performance." "Dear passengers!" he began his speech. "We will never let you down!" Both Fadeyev, Okulov and Stepashin received Glory of the Motherland decorations.

Head of the president's expert department Arkady Dvorkovich was declared "The Person in State Administration." He preferred to take the award as "an advance payment." President of the republic of Chechnya Alu Alkhanov received the award in the category "A Regional Leader." He received congratulations from Chechen Prime Minister Sergey Abramov and Chechen Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov, as they also attended the event. "Since all three of us can leave the republic at the same time, it means things are not that bad there as they may seem to be," Alkhanov said. Chairman of the board of directors of SUAL-Holding Viktor Vekselberg was called "The Businessman of the Year." "RBC is almost never wrong in its estimations and conclusions," he told the audience on receiving the award. After the ceremony, the participants went to the Armory Chamber to enjoy dinner.