Russian and Belarusian ambassadors are invited to the Nobel Prize awarding once again: the Foreign Ministry reacted

In 2023, the ambassadors of Russia and Belarus will be able to attend the Nobel Prize banquet in Stockholm (Sweden) once again. In 2022, they were not invited to the event due to the full-scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine.

This was reported by Reuters on August 31 citing representatives of the Nobel Foundation. The organization explained that they decided to invite the ambassadors of all countries that are diplomatically represented in Sweden and Norway respectively.

Five of the six Nobel Prizes are awarded every year in Stockholm. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway, where separate celebrations are held.

The foundation says they see the point in bringing even those who don't share the values of the Nobel Prize to the events.

"It is clear that the world is increasingly divided into areas where dialog between people with different views is shrinking. To counter this trend, we are now expanding our invitations to celebrate and understand the Nobel Prize and the importance of free science, free culture and free, peaceful societies," said Vidar Helgesen, Executive Director of the Nobel Foundation.

This year's laureates will be announced in early October. The festive award ceremony will be held on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.

Journalists noted that the foundation also invited the leader of the Sweden Democrats anti-immigrant party for the first time. However, the head of this political force immediately stated that he would not attend the event because he is "busy that day."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the decision of the Nobel Foundation to invite Russian and Belarusian ambassadors despite the war unleashed against Ukraine.

"Such a decision is explained by the desire to prove its values even to those states that oppose them. Proving the values of humanism of Russia and Belarus is a Sisyphean labor, an effort that will not lead to results. It is most likely that the Russian army will commit another war crime in the occupied Ukrainian territories on the day when the Russian ambassador will be sitting in a nice suit in Stockholm concert hall, with Russian missiles destroying another residential neighborhood in Ukrainian cities," said the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleh Nikolenko.

He also noted that the fund's decision to return to business as usual would only strengthen the Kremlin's sense of impunity and lead to new crimes.

The Foreign Ministry recalled that last year the Nobel Foundation did not invite Russian and Belarusian ambassadors in response to Russian aggression against Ukraine.

"As long as it continues, as long as millions of Ukrainians suffer from unprovoked war and the Russian leadership is not punished for its crimes, we urge the organizing committee to support international efforts to isolate Russia and Belarus," the Foreign Ministry spokesman summarized.

As OBOZREVATEL wrote:

- Earlier, Nobel laureate Paul Krugman said that modern Russia "looks like a Potemkin superpower more than ever" and that it could become a "failed state" in 10 years.

- In 2022, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, the Russian Memorial center and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties. To see how it was awarded, see the link.

- A court in Belarus sentenced Nobel Peace Prize laureate Beliatski to 10 years in prison in March this year. The head of the Viasna human rights organization was accused of "smuggling" and "repeated violation of the order of organizing or holding mass events".

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