The national Russian award is given out in 20 categories each January for motion pictures and TV series produced in Russia during the previous year.

The awarding statuette is a silver eagle, originally made from copper with a jade pedestal, and was designed by sculptor Viktor Mitroshin.

At the XXIV Moscow International Film Festival on 26 June 2002, the Golden Eagle was officially inaugurated by the National Academy of Cinematographic Sciences.

Winners were Andrei Tarkovsky, George Zhzhyonov, Fyodor Khitruk, Tatiana Samoilova, Michel Legrand, and Bernardo Bertolucci.

However, the ceremony of the cinema, scheduled for 27 September 2002, was transferred in connection with the death of Sergei Bodrov, Jr. and his crew, who died in the Karmadon Gorge.