The general director of the Bolshoy Theatre Anatoly Iksanov was promoted to the Knights of the Order of the Legion of Honor. The solemn ceremony was held at the historic theater stage at the end of the play "La Traviata", behind the curtain and in the presence of the actors involved in the performance. The order was handed to Iksanov by the French Ambassador to Russia Jean de Gliniasty.

The ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy said in his cover letter that by giving this award from his personal reserve he decided to celebrate the high quality of work of the general director for the benefit of the Great Russian culture and in the interests of the Russian-French cooperation.

Among the members of the Order established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802 there are about 150 Russians: public figures of culture, art and science.