The indignation aroused in Sweden over the Nobel Foundation’s decision to readmit the Russian ambassador to the prize-giving ceremony has prompted the institution to retract. “We have decided to repeat last year’s exceptional measure, that is, not to invite the ambassadors of Russia, Belarus and Iran to the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm,” the foundation said in a statement issued on Saturday.
The private institution admitted that the initial decision to re-invite the Russian, Belarusian and Iranian representatives -after having been excluded from the 2022 ceremony, the year the Russian aggression against Ukraine began- “has provoked strong reactions.” Indeed, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry strongly protested and the Belarusian dissidents also showed their indignation.
In its note, the Nobel Foundation insists that it considered “important and correct to disseminate as widely as possible the values ??and messages represented by the Nobel Prize” and recalls that in 2022 the Nobel Peace Prize sent a “clear political message” by awarding pro-democracy activists from Belarus (Ales Bialiatski), Russia (the Memorial human rights NGO) and Ukraine (the Center for Civil Liberties NGO).
However, he acknowledges “strong reactions in Sweden, which completely overshadowed this message.” The prime minister, the conservative Petteri Orpo, disagreed with him, and the leaders of several Swedish parties announced that they would boycott the Nobel acts. As reported by the Swedish public radio Sveriges Radio (SR), the Swedish Royal House reacted with surprise to the announcement and King Carl XVI Gustaf himself considered not attending the ceremony. For all these reasons, “the board of directors of the Nobel Foundation has decided to repeat last year’s exception to the usual practice, that is, not to invite the ambassadors of Russia, Belarus and Iran to the Nobel prize-giving ceremony in Stockholm” .
The Nobel Prizes are awarded each year at the beginning of October. Five of the six awards -medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and economics- are delivered in Stockholm, in a ceremony followed by a gala banquet presided over by the King of Sweden, with up to 1,200 guests.
The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, in an act in the City Hall. Both ceremonies are held on the same day, December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death. “As before, all the ambassadors will be invited to the ceremony in Oslo,” the note from the Nobel Foundation points out. The Russian, Belarusian and Iranian ambassadors were invited to the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony in the Norwegian capital.
