People's Artist of Russia, also sometimes translated as National Artist of Russia, is an honorary title

Title of honor

An honorary title or title of honor is a title bestowed upon individuals or organizations as an award in recognition of their merits.Sometimes the title bears the same or nearly the same name as a title of authority, but the person bestowed does not have to carry any duties, possibly except for...

 granted to citizens of Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

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It succeeded both the all-Soviet union award People's Artist of the USSR

People's Artist of the USSR

People's Artist of the USSR, also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to citizens of the Soviet Union.- Nomenclature and significance :...

 (Народный артист СССР), and more directly the local republic award, People's Artist of the RSFSR (Народный артист РСФСР), after the dissolution of the Soviet Union

Dissolution of the Soviet Union

The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...

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There are today two levels of award:

People's...: (Народный)

Categories: Architect · teacher · artist

Honored... (Заслуженный - also translated as Merited or Meritous)

Categories: Agronomist · architect · teacher · chemist · artist · miner · veterinarian · military pilot · military expert · military navigator · doctor · geologist · artist · scientist · land surveyor · livestock · inventor · designer · forester · test pilot · mechanician · metallurgist · meteorologist · border guard · community services worker · Foreign Service employee · health worker · cultural worker · forestry worker · oil and gas industry worker · employee of the food industry · employee of the aerospace industry · etc.etc.

Receiving the Honored... (Заслуженный) award, leaves one eligible to receive the People's... (Народный) award later. For example the light entertainment singer Sergei Georgievich Zakharov

Sergei Georgievich Zakharov

Sergey Zakharov is a Russian lounge singer.Zakharov was born May 1, 1950 in Mykolaiv in the Ukraine in a military family...

was awarded Honored Artist of the RSFSR (Заслуженный артист РСФСР) in 1988, then People's Artist of Russia (Народный артист России) in 1996.