Nobel Foundation Gala Dinner on December 10, 2022 in Stockholm, Sweden (Jonathan NACKSTRAND)
In contrast to the “values of Alfred Nobel”: The invitation of the Russian and Belarusian ambassadors to the next Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm triggered widespread rejection, from the Swedish Prime Minister to Kiev.
The Nobel Foundation, which organizes the awards ceremony and a grand gala dinner in the Swedish capital, announced on Thursday that it would invite all ambassadors of the countries present in Sweden to the ceremony this year to promote dialogue for peace.
Last year she decided not to invite the two ambassadors because of the war in Ukraine and the Iranian ambassador because of the suppression of the protest movement. All three are invited this year.
“As long as millions of Ukrainians continue to suffer from a war they did not cause and the Russian power is not punished for its crimes, we call on the Nobel Committee to support efforts to isolate Russia and Belarus,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman reacted Ministry, Oleg Nikolenko, on Facebook.
For him, this invitation will provoke “an increased sense of impunity” on the part of the Russian authorities.
The leader of the Belarusian exile opposition, Svetlana Tikhanovkaïa, called on the Nobel Foundation to change course. Belarus has been led with an iron fist by Alexander Lukashenko since 1994 and is a close ally of Moscow.
“No compromises should be made with the values of Alfred Nobel. “I call on the Foundation and the Nobel Committee not to invite representatives of the illegitimate Lukashenko regime to events and to demand their immediate release” by Ales Bialiatski, Nobel Peace Prize 2022, she believes in X (ex-Twitter).
In Sweden, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he was “very surprised” by the invitations.
“I wouldn’t have done it if I had to deal with invitations to an awards ceremony and I understand that this is worrying in Sweden and Ukraine,” he added in a statement to AFP.
Read more
For the Nobel Foundation, it is “clear that the world is increasingly divided into spheres and dialogue between different viewpoints is increasingly restricted,” said Vidar Helgesen, its director, in a statement.
“To reverse this trend, we extend our invitation to celebrate and understand the Nobel Prize and the importance of free science, free culture and free and peaceful societies,” he added.
– Boycott –
Several Swedish politicians, including leaders of the Greens, the center and the left, said they would boycott the event because of the Russian ambassador’s invitation.
The ceremony takes place every year on December 10th in Stockholm, the day on which the winners of the prizes in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and economics receive their prizes from the hands of King Carl XVI. Gustaf, followed by a gala dinner bringing together some 1,200 guests.
On the same day, a special ceremony for the Nobel Peace Prize winner will take place in Oslo, to which all ambassadors stationed in Norway are invited without exception.
“It is a good thing that all diplomatic representatives present in Oslo can hear the message of the laureate and the Nobel Committee, especially the representatives of authoritarian states that oppress their people or wage war,” the Oslo minister told AFP the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
“It is more uncomfortable for them to be there and hear these messages than not coming to the ceremony or being excluded,” Olav Njølstad added.
Last year, despite being invited, the ambassadors of Russia and Belarus avoided the ceremony in Oslo honoring Mr. Bialiatski and two organizations that work to defend civil rights in Russia and Ukraine.
bur-ef-phy/lpt/pa