On July 3 the PIR Center in National Hotel has awarded special prizes for merits and achievements in the area of WMD nonproliferation, in accordance with the following nominations:

• For Strengthening the Nonproliferation Regime;
• For Educating the New Generation in the Area of Nonproliferation;
• For Developing the Cooperation in Peaceful Nuclear Energy Uses;
• For Promoting the Ideas of Nuclear-Weapon-Free World;
• The New Talent in Nonproliferation.

For the first time ever this awards has been held by PIR Center 5 years ago in honor of it's 10th anniversary. In 2004 Rose Gottemoeller, Roland Timerbaev, Evgeny Maslin, Samuel Nunn and others have been announced as the award winners.

This year the award winners are the President of the Kazakh Republic Nursultan Nazarbayev, the IAEA Director General Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, Lieutenant-General (ret.), Senior Vice President Gennady Evstafiev, the Ploughshares Fund's President Joseph Cirincione and the Ploughshares Fund, the Deputy Director General of the Rosatom State Corporation Amb. Nikolay Spassky, the Associate Professor of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations Ildar Akhtamzyan, and the CNS Research Assistant in Monterey Institute of International Studies Nikita Perfilyev.

In nomination “For Strengthening the Nonproliferation Regime” two awardees were announced: Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei and Lieutenant-General (ret.) Gennady Evstafiev. In nomination “For Promoting the Ideas of Nuclear-Weapon-Free World” also two awardees were announced: the President Nursultan Nazarbayev, and the Ploughshares Fund's President Joseph Cirincione, as well as the Ploughshares Fund.

The activity of Nursultan Nazarbayev as the President of the Kazakh Republic has made an impressive contribution into the development of the contemporary system of international security. The most significant achievement of this activity became a Kazakhstan's denuclearization.

The honorary diploma and souvenir were given to the Minister-Counselor of the Embassy of the Kazakh Republic in the Russian Federation Mikhail Litvinov for its transfer to Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Since 2008 Joseph Cirincione is the President of the Ploughshares Fund that supports initiatives to prevent the spread and use of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and other weapons of war, and to prevent conflicts that could lead to the use of weapons of mass destruction.

In nomination “For Developing the Cooperation in Peaceful Nuclear Energy Uses” Amb. Nikolay Spassky was announced as award winner. Ildar Akhtamzyan has won in nomination “For Educating the New Generation in the Area of Nonproliferation”. Nikita Perfilyev has become “The New Talent in Nonproliferation”.

All the nominees have got honorary diplomas and souvenirs.

For detailed information concerning nominees, please, contact the Deputy Editor-In-Chief of the Security Index journal Evgeny Petelin by phone +7 (495) 987-1915, fax +7 (495) 987-1914 or via e-mail: petelin@pircenter.org.