(Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded on Monday an Order of Courage to Army General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff of Russia’s armed forces and the overall commander of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Gerasimov, one of the most powerful men in the Russian military and against whom the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for alleged crimes in Ukraine, is credited as the chief architect of Russia’s modern warfare strategy. He turned 70 on Monday.

The Order of Courage, a prestigious state decoration, was given to Gerasimov “for courage, bravery, and dedication displayed in the fulfilment of military duty,” according to a decree published on Russia’s official legal acts website late on Monday.

Gerasimov is thought to hold one of the three nuclear briefcases that can transmit orders for a nuclear strike. He played key roles in Russia’s seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and in Russia’s game-changing military support for President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war.

The United States sanctioned him the day after the Russian February 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine, saying he was among those directly responsible. Putin appointed Gerasimov to lead the Ukraine campaign in January 2023.

Gerasimov, together with the then-Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, another close ally of Putin, was heavily criticised by Russia’s influential war bloggers for the army’s failings in the first year of the war, when it suffered a series of embarrassing setbacks and retreats.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Jamie Freed)