President Alexander Lukashenko has issued a Decree on conferring state awards on 16 Belarusians, decorating 11 individuals with the Labour Achievement Medal and five other people with the Francysk Skaryna Medal.

The Labour Achievement Medal was conferred, among others, on Sergei Petrovsky, an electric welder with Belspetsenergo; the Francysk Skaryna Medal has been awarded, among others, to Sergei Bondarchuk, a circus artist with the Belarusian State Cirsus, and Nikolai Metlitsky, editor-in-chief at the Polymya literary magazine and the Litaratura i Mastatstva publishing house.