[2] The medal's statute was finally amended one last time on July 18, 1980 by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR № 2523-X.

[2] Award of the medal was made on behalf of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the basis of documents attesting to actual participation in the defence of Moscow issued by the unit commander, the chief of the military medical establishment or by a relevant provincial or municipal authority.

On the obverse in the background, the Kremlin wall, in front of the wall at lower center, the left front of a T-34 tank with a group of soldiers on it, below the tank near the medal's lower rim, a relief five pointed star in the center of a laurel wreath going halfway up the medal's circumference on the left and right.

Over the Kremlin wall, the dome of the Senate building with a hammer and sickle flag waving from its rooftop mast, in the sky above, five combat aircraft flying towards the left.

Along the upper circumference of the medal, the relief inscription in prominent letters "FOR DEFENCE OF MOSCOW" (Russian: «ЗА ОБОРОНУ МОСКВЫ»).