Belgian veteran to get Peter the Great international award in Moscow

Peter the Great international award for merits in promoting cultural values will go this Saturday to Patrick Lefevre, the chief curator of Belgium's Royal Museum of Armed Forces and Military History.

A spokesperson for the Russian Embassy in Brussels told RIA Novosti that the international public panel in charge of granting the award decided in favor of Patrick Lefevre for his special contribution to development of the Belgian-Russian bilateral relations, his efforts in promoting Russian culture throughout Europe and his commitment to raising Europeans' awareness of the major role Russia had played in liberating Europe from fascism during WWII. Last year, this recently established award was presented to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

The Brussels-based museum holds one of Europe's largest collections of exhibits pertaining to military history of the Russian Empire.

At Patrick Lefevre's initiative, a decision was made in 2000 to set up on the museum's premises a standing exhibition displaying the enormous role played by the Soviet Union in defeating fascism. The Museum has assigned two of its rooms for the exhibition scheduled for opening next year.