Tatyana Golikova presented the "Volunteer of Russia" badge of distinction to the country’s best volunteers

---

On the eve of Volunteer Day, the country’s best volunteers were honoured at the National Centre RUSSIA during the Fifth Anniversary International Forum of Civic Participation #WEARETOGETHER. The Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Tatyana Golikova, presented the "Volunteer of Russia" badge of distinction to 25 volunteers.

Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova congratulated the forum participants on the upcoming Volunteer Day and thanked the volunteers for their continuous work and dedication: "Helping others is the most important thing each of us can do. And those who devote their lives to volunteering are truly great people. That is exactly how the whole country sees you!"

She also noted that the "Volunteer of Russia" badge is being presented to the country’s best volunteers for the second time.

"Today we honour those who perform heroic deeds in their everyday lives with the 'Volunteer of Russia' badge of distinction. Because it is from small deeds, combined together, that a great heart is born – a heart that beats like the heart of our country, our great Motherland, which we all love deeply. And our 'Volunteer of Russia' badge is a heartfelt and well-deserved ‘thank you’ to all of you," added Tatyana Golikova.

The "Volunteer of Russia" badge was established by the Government of the Russian Federation to recognise citizens who have demonstrated outstanding achievements in volunteering. Eligible nominees included volunteers with confirmed experience of more than 500 hours of voluntary work on the Dobro.rf platform over the past three years, those who have shown courage and bravery and performed heroic acts, as well as volunteer donors of blood, plasma, bone marrow and stem cells, and those who contribute to the development of bone marrow or stem cell donation.

Among the recipients was Alexander Sopynev from the Amur region, head of the project "Training Volunteers to Search for Missing People". A total of 685 volunteers have already completed the programme, and the percentage of missing persons found in the region has risen to 99.3 per cent. Another recipient was Daniil Mural from the Donetsk People’s Republic, who organised a volunteer donor movement during the special military operation to help save civilians and service members. Since 2019, he has made 30 blood donations, actively promotes blood and bone marrow donation and has recruited more than 200 new donors. In 2024, he founded the youth donor movement "Donetsk Donor Club".

The highest number of recipients came from the Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Chelyabinsk regions. More than 1,480 volunteers from 79 regions of Russia applied for the "Volunteer of Russia" badge of distinction.

Both volunteers themselves and volunteer organisations were able to submit stories and applications for the commemorative badge. The package of documents was forwarded by the regional youth policy authority to the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh). The decision to award the commemorative badge and select the laureates was made by an expert council.

The founder of the #WEARETOGETHER Prize is Rosmolodezh. The organiser is Dobro.rf. The general partner of the Prize is Alfa-Bank, and the strategic partner is Rosatom State Corporation.