There is currently “no diplomatic solution” to the war in Ukraine, said Sunday Irina Chtcherbakova, the co-founder of the Russian human rights NGO Memorial, which was dissolved by the authorities and is a 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner.
“I firmly believe that there is no diplomatic solution with the Putin regime while it still exists,” said Irina Chtcherbakova, who left Russia after Russian forces invaded Ukraine and currently lives in Germany, in Hamburg.
“The solution that is now available is a military solution,” even if diplomacy could later play a role in resolving the conflict, she estimated after receiving the Marion Dönhoff Prize in Hamburg for her years of service in Russia had received service to the cause of human rights. “But these decisions, this diplomacy, can only be made when Ukraine feels it has won the war and can end it,” she continued. According to the Russian activist, hasty calls for peace are “childish”. “Nothing will ever be the same again,” she said.
The Marion Dönhoff Prize was presented to Irina Chtcherbakova by Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Founded in 1989, Memorial has worked for decades to solve crimes committed under Stalin’s totalitarian regime and preserve the memory of its victims, while collecting information about violations of freedoms and rights in Russia. The organization was dissolved by the Russian judiciary at the end of 2021. As the winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize, the organization will accept the award on Saturday 10 December in Oslo.
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