2023-09-02 17:41:32
The Nobel Peace Prize medal. Photo taken in New York on December 8, 2020. (Angela Weiss/Pool Photo via AP)
The Nobel Foundation on Saturday withdrew its invitation to representatives from Russia, Belarus and Iran to attend this year’s Nobel prize ceremonies, following the decision announced a day earlier “provoked strong reactions.”
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Several Swedish lawmakers said Friday they would boycott this year’s Nobel Prize ceremonies in Stockholm, the Swedish capital, following the private foundation that administers the prestigious awards reversed its stance from a year earlier and invited representatives from the three countries to attend, stating that it “promotes opportunities to convey the important messages of the Nobel Prize to the whole world.”
Some of the lawmakers cited Russia’s war once morest Ukraine and Iran’s crackdown on human rights as reasons for their boycott. On Friday, Belarusian opposition member Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya called on the Swedish Nobel Foundation and the Norwegian Nobel Committee not to invite representatives of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s “illegitimate regime” to any events.
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On Saturday, he celebrated the decision of the Nobel Foundation. He said it was “a clear sign of solidarity with the Belarusian and Ukrainian people.” “This is how commitment to Nobel principles and values is demonstrated,” Tsikhanouskaya said.
Vidar Helgesen, director of the Nobel Foundation. EFE/EPA/Jessica Gow
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who on Friday said he would not have allowed the three countries to participate in the award ceremonies, was also pleased with the decision. He posted on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that “the many strong reactions prove that all of Sweden is unequivocally on the side of Ukraine once morest Russia’s appalling war of aggression.”
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The foundation said on Saturday that it recognized “the strong reactions in Sweden, which completely overshadowed this message” and therefore had decided not to invite the ambassadors of Russia, Belarus and Iran to the award ceremony in Stockholm.
However, he stated that he would follow his usual practice and invite all ambassadors to the ceremony in Oslo, the Norwegian capital, where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded.
Saturday’s announcement was widely praised in Sweden by politicians. Even the Swedish Royal House reacted with a statement from its spokeswoman, Margareta Thorgren, quoted by the Aftonbladet newspaper: “We consider the change of decision positive.” She added that King Carl XVI Gustaf was scheduled to award this year’s Nobel prizes at ceremonies in Stockholm “as before.”
This year’s Nobel Prize winners will be announced in early October. Laureates are invited to receive their prizes in a glittering ceremony on December 10, the anniversary of the prize’s founder Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896.
For its part, Ukraine welcomed on Saturday the Nobel Foundation’s decision to cancel the invitation of the ambassadors of Russia and Moscow’s ally Belarus to this year’s Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm.
“Victory of humanism,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said on Facebook. “We thank all those who demanded the restoration of justice. We are convinced that a similar decision should be made with regard to the Russian and Belarusian ambassadors in Oslo.”
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