Oscar-winning Polish film director Andrzej Wajda has received the Order of Friendship from Russia’s president Dmitry Medvedev.

Wajda was appreciated by Russians for “his contribution to the development of Russian-Polish relations in the field of culture”.

Russian media, calling the 84-year-old Polish director a “classic of the world cinema”, mention that Wajda was awarded many film prizes, including the 2000 American Academy Award.

Russian broadcaster NTV said that Wajda’s film Katyn, about the massacre of Polish officers by NKVD in 1940, was “one of the most acclaimed premiers in Russia this year”.

NTV added that Wajda’s father was among the officers killed in Katyn and that is why it was important to him to reveal historical truth about the crime.

Moscow Echo radio station points out that, in fact, Katyn was first shown in Russia in 2008 but only in two cinemas so not many people watched it. Only in 2010, the radio station says, when a Russian TV channel broadcast the film, it reached mass audience.

The Order of Friendship is one of the highest state decorations of the Russian Federation. It replaced the Order of Friendship of Peoples awarded by the Soviet Union since 1972. (mg)