By decree of the
Presidium of the
Supreme Soviet of the USSR of October 28, 1974, the
Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" was established. The initiator of the introduction of the new award was the
Minister of Defense of the USSR,
Marshal of the Soviet Union,
Andrei Grechko. The order had three degrees and was intended to reward military personnel of the
Soviet Army,
Soviet Navy,
border guard and
internal troops “for successes achieved in combat and political training, maintaining high combat readiness of troops and mastering new military equipment, for high performance in official activities, for the successful completion of special command tasks”, as well as in other cases determined by the statute. On December 25, 1991, according to the law adopted by the
Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, the
RSFSR was renamed the Russian Federation and. On December 26, 1991, the
USSR ceased to exist, Russia
emerged from it as an independent state. On April 21, 1992, the
Congress of People's Deputies of Russia approved the renaming, making appropriate amendments to the
Constitution of the RSFSR, which came into force upon publication on May 16, 1992. By Decree of the Presidium of the
Supreme Soviet of Russia of March 2, 1992 No. 2424-1, before the adoption of the law on state awards, some insignia that
existed in the USSR were retained in the
award system of Russia, but the
Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" was not among them entered In accordance with
presidential decree of 2 March 1994 No. 442 “
On State Awards of the Russian Federation” along with
other awards, the Order “For Military Merit” was established. Historian, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor M.V. Kukel characterizes this order as an analogue of the Order “For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR” in the
Russian award system. Researcher Shchegolev notes that the Order of Military Merit became a new award that had no analogues in the
Soviet award system. “At first glance, it looks like the
Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR",” but it certainly is not. According to him "it was given for something else, and it had three degrees, and the idea itself was thought out much more seriously,”. Nevertheless, the place of the Soviet order was supposed to be taken by a new award, but this did not happen; He describes the changes that have occurred as an attempt to “‘combine the incompatible’ and, taking advantage of Western experience, improve the Soviet system”. Researcher from the Institute of Russian History of the
Russian Academy of Sciences, L.N. Grekhov, focuses on the fact that the Order “For Military Merit” and the very similar Order “For Naval Merit” look independent against the background of other Russian awards that have Soviet analogues. The author of the sketch of the Order “For Military Merit” is
Merited Artist of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Vasilyevich Abramov, a graduate of the
Stroganov Moscow State Academy of Arts and Industry. E.V. Muravyov acted as the engraver of the order. The badge of the order is made in the tradition of Russian eight-pointed order stars, the diagonal rays of which form pentagons, covered with enamel in the national colors of the
Flag of Russia. ==Award statute==