From left, foreground: President Vladimir Putin giving the Order for Military Service to Colonel Alexander Neverov, communications department head and deputy chief of staff of the Airborne Troops, while attending the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format, the General Staff Academy, Moscow, December 10, 2013. Left: Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Right: the presidential staff chief Sergei Ivanov.

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From left, foreground: President Vladimir Putin giving the Order for Military Service to Major General Mikhail Matveyevsky, commander of the army's missile forces and artillery, while attending the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format in the presence of President Vladimir Putin, the General Staff Academy, Moscow, December 10, 2013.

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From left, foreground: President Vladimir Putin giving the honorary rank "Merited Military Pilot of the Russian Federation" to Colonel Dmitry Kostyunin, chief of staff and deputy commander of the Long-Range Aviation, Air Force, while attending the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format, the General Staff Academy, Moscow, December 10, 2013. Background, from left: General Staff Chief Valery Gerasimov, the first deputy defense minister, and Prosecutor-General Yury Chaika. Right: Sergei Ivanov, chief of the presidential staff.

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President Vladimir Putin (left, foreground) giving the honorary rank "Merited Military Pilot of the Russian Federation" to Colonel Dmitry Kostyunin (right), chief of staff and deputy commander of the Long-Range Aviation, Air Force, while attending the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format, the General Staff Academy, Moscow, December 10, 2013. Background, left: Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu

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President Vladimir Putin (left) giving the medal of the Order for Service to the Fatherland, First Degree, to Major General Alexander Golovko, commander of the aerospace defense troops, while attending the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format, the General Staff Academy, Moscow, December 10, 2013.

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President Vladimir Putin (left) giving the Order of Honor to Lieutenant General Viktor Polyako, chief of the ground troops' training and research center, while attending the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format, the General Staff Academy, Moscow, December 10, 2013.

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President Vladimir Putin (left) giving the Order for Military Service to Major General Andrei Yudin, commander of the Air Force and Air Defenses of the Southern Military District, while attending the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format, the General Staff Academy, Moscow, December 10, 2013.

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President Vladimir Putin giving the Order for Marine Service to Captain 1st Rank Sergei Grishin, deputy chief of staff of the Arctic Fleet, while attending the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format, the General Staff Academy, Moscow, December 10, 2013.

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President Vladimir Putin (left) giving the Order for Valor to Captain 1st Rank Eduard Slepchenko, large nuclear submarine commander, Arctic Fleet, while attending the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format, the General Staff Academy, Moscow, December 10, 2013.

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President Vladimir Putin (left) giving the Order for Military Service to Colonel General Vladimir Zarudnitsky, chief of the Main Operations Board, General Staff, while attending the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format in the presence of President Vladimir Putin, the General Staff Academy, Moscow, December 10, 2013.

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From left, foreground: President Vladimir Putin giving the Order for Military Service to Colonel General Vladimir Zarudnitsky, chief of the Main Operations Board, General Staff, while attending the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format, the General Staff Academy, Moscow, December 10, 2013. Left: Prosecutor-General Yury Chaika. From right: Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and the presidential staff chief Sergei Ivanov.

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President Vladimir Putin (left) giving the Order for Valor to Captain 1st Rank Eduard Slepchenko, large nuclear submarine commander, Arctic Fleet, while attending the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format, the General Staff Academy, Moscow, December 10, 2013.

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President Vladimir Putin (left, foreground) giving the Alexander Nevsky Order to the General Inspector Board analyst Vladimir Chernavin (right, foreground) while attending the state award ceremony at the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format, the General Staff Academy, Moscow, December 10, 2013. Right: Sergei Ivanov, the presidential staff chief.

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President Vladimir Putin (right) speaking at the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format, the General Staff Academy, Moscow, December 10, 2013. From left: Prosecutor-General Yury Chaika and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu

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President Vladimir Putin (left) attending the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format, the General Staff Academy, Moscow, December 10, 2013. Right: Sergei Ivanov, the presidential staff chief.

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President Vladimir Putin attending the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format at the General Staff Academy in Moscow, December 10, 2013.

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President Vladimir Putin attending the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format at the General Staff Academy in Moscow, December 10, 2013.

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Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu attending the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format in the presence of President Vladimir Putin, the General Staff Academy, Moscow, December 10, 2013.

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President Vladimir Putin (right) attending the state award ceremony at the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format, the General Staff Academy, Moscow, December 10, 2013. Left: Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

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President Vladimir Putin (center) fastening the Alexander Nevsky Order to the chest of General Inspector Board analyst Vladimir Chernavin (right) while attending the state award ceremony at the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format, the General Staff Academy, Moscow, December 10, 2013.

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President Vladimir Putin giving the Alexander Nevsky Order to the General Inspector Board analyst Vladimir Chernavin while attending the state award ceremony at the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format, the General Staff Academy, Moscow, December 10, 2013.

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President Vladimir Putin attending the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format at the General Staff Academy in Moscow, December 10, 2013.

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President Vladimir Putin (right) attending the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format at the General Staff Academy in Moscow, December 10, 2013. Left: Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

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President Vladimir Putin (left) attending the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format at the General Staff Academy in Moscow, December 10, 2013. Right: Sergei Ivanov, the head of the presidential staff.

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President Vladimir Putin (second left) attending the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format at the General Staff Academy in Moscow, December 10, 2013. Left: defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. From right: Russian security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and the presidencial staff chief Sergei Ivanov.

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Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (left) speaking at the Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format at the General Staff Academy in Moscow, December 10, 2013.

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President Vladimir Putin (left, on rostrum) speaking at the Russian Defense Ministry's Board meeting in an expanded format at the General Staff Academy in Moscow, December 10, 2013. From right: Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, the presidential staff chief Sergei Ivanov, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Prosecutor-General Yury Chaika and General Staff Chief Valery Gerasimov, the first deputy defense minister.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, is seen here in the General Staff Academy, Moscow, ahead of a meeting of the Russian Defense Ministry's Board, 10 December 2013. Left: Army General Valery Gerasimov, Chief of general Staff, First Deputy Defense Minister.

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