Will grandees return their Russian honours?

It’s five days since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine and there’s no sign of the pressure letting up. Arms continue to be exported across Europe to aid Kiev’s war effort while financial penalties continue to be applied. The latest sanctions levied against Russian banks include cutting them off from Visa and Mastercard, and consequently Apple Pay and Google Pay.  

But it’s not just in the military, diplomatic and economic spheres that Moscow is being targeted. Cultural boycotts threaten to wreck Russia’s aspirations of World Cup glory in Qatar this summer while Eurovision has also announced the country will not be welcome. One act of individual defiance is the return of honours given by Putin’s state to notable individuals across Europe. 

The former German ambassador to Moscow Ernst-Jörg von Studnitz yesterday did exactly that, returning the ‘Order of Russian Friendship’ in protest at Putin’s latest act. The former diplomat attacked the Russian president as ‘an evil destroyer of European peace’ and a ‘power-mad Führer’. Only 30 Germans have ever received the award which is given to foreign nationals whose work betters relations with Russia and its people.

Another to return his honour is the Norwegian former mayor of Sør-Varanger Mayor Rune Rafaelsen, who got the same gong from the Russian president in 2020. Naturally, Mr S has now turned his beady eye on Britain to see which of our great and good have received similar trophies here. Among those lucky few who have received the ‘Order of Russian Friendship’ include Prince Michael of Kent, who, last summer was accused of using his royal status for personal profit, and to provide access to President Putin’s regime. 

Another establishment grandee has already declined to tell Mr S whether he will be following the example of von Studnitz and Rafaelsen. Dr Rowan Williams, the right-on former Archbishop of Canterbury, was given the ‘Order of Russian Friendship’ in 2010 to recognise his love of the country and its literature. Williams, who wrote a book on Dostoyevsky, said he was ‘delighted and rather overwhelmed’ by the award at the time.

Now though, the situation has changed somewhat. Williams told Steerpike:

I completely share the condemnation of Vladimir Putin’s aggression and all it has led to. If and when I make a decision about the Order (which was certainly not conditional on a support for the Russian Government which I have never shared or expressed) I shall say so.

Mr S looks forward to being among the first to find out.