The Nobel Foundation, which on August 31 invited the ambassadors of all countries whose diplomatic missions are represented in Sweden and Norway to the Nobel Prize ceremony, has withdrawn this decision. This was reported on the organization's website.
The foundation's first message said that «the world is increasingly divided into areas where dialogue between people with different views is limited.»
“To counter this trend, we are expanding our invitation to celebrate the Nobel Prize and understand the importance of free science, free culture, and free, peaceful societies. <…> From now on, representatives of all parties that have received representation in the Swedish Parliament will be invited to the Nobel Day, and ambassadors of all countries whose diplomatic missions are represented in Sweden and Norway will be invited to the award ceremony, ”explained Vidar Helgesen, Executive Director of the Nobel Foundation.
Helgesen did not say directly about the invitation of ambassadors from Russia and Belarus, while the diplomatic missions of both countries are represented in Sweden. Last year, their representatives were not invited to the award due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine; Iran was not invited either.
After the foundation's statement, several party leaders in Sweden refused to participate in the ceremony, according to Aftonbladet, and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he was surprised by the decision.
Most likely, on the day when the Russian ambassador is sitting in a beautiful suit in the concert hall of Stockholm, the Russian army will commit another war crimes in the occupied Ukrainian territories,» wrote Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko.
As a result, the Nobel Foundation withdrew the invitation, noting the «strong reaction» to it. “The basis of the decision was that we consider it important to disseminate as widely as possible the values and ideas that the Nobel Prize stands for. For example, last year the Peace Prize was awarded to human rights activists from Russia and Belarus, as well as to Ukrainians who document Russian war crimes,” the report says (we are talking about the Russian “Memorial”, the Ukrainian “Center for Civil Liberties” and the Belarusian human rights activist Ales Byalyatsky, who has been in a pre-trial detention center since 2021).
In 2021, Novaya Gazeta Editor-in-Chief Dmitry Muratov became the winner of the Peace Prize. He sold his medal at auction and donated money to a humanitarian mission UNICEF. Yesterday, the Ministry of Justice declared Muratov a «foreign agent.» Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Berit Reiss-Andersen commented: “Muratov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to promote freedom of speech and independent journalism. It's sad that now the Russian authorities are trying to silence him.»
«Continuous intentional destructive activity». The Tver court kicked Memorial out on the street on the day the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded