Order "For Merit to the Fatherland"

The Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" (Russian: Орден «За заслуги перед Отечеством», romanized: Orden "Za zaslugi pered Otechestvom") is a state decoration of the Russian Federation. It was instituted on 2 March 1994 by Presidential Decree 442. Until the re-establishment of the Order of St. Andrew in 1998, it was the highest order of the Russian Federation. The order's status was modified on 6 January 1999 by Presidential Decree 19 and again on 7 September 2010 by Presidential Decree 1099.