The message reads, in part:
Mr Sturua, please accept my heartfelt congratulations on your 85th birthday.
You have worked as an Izvestia newspaper foreign correspondent for over 50 years. During that time you have interviewed kings and presidents, cinema stars and outstanding athletes. You have repeatedly witnessed significant international events, including the history-making Khrushchev-Eisenhower summit, and you also took part in those events. It would be no exaggeration to say that your brilliant reporting and stories opened the world to millions of Soviet citizens. Your books, which were published in this country and abroad, invariably found many readers. Your outstanding publications in the Russian press continue to evoke great interest today.
I wish you health, creative success and all the best.
D.Medvedev