Nobel Prize, invitation to Russia, Belarus and Iran: controversy arises

Russia and Belarus have been invited back to the Nobel Prize dinner in Stockholm after being sidelined last year because of the war in Ukraine, says the Nobel Foundation. Iran was also invited back to the event in the Swedish capital after not being allowed to attend last year. The Foundation, as reported by the BBC, said it also wanted to include those who do not share the Nobel Prize’s values ​​and controversy immediately arose.

One Swedish MEP described this year’s invitations as “hugely inappropriate”. The leader of the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, Jimmie Akesson, was also invited for the first time this year, but said he was too busy to attend. Five of the six Nobel Prize ceremonies are held in Stockholm each year, while the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo. Last year, the Nobel Foundation said that the Russian and Belarusian ambassadors would not be invited “because of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine”. Belarus is a key ally of Russia and its leader, Aleksander Lukashenko, supported the war. Iran was also not invited last year. Tehran has long been the target of criticism for failing to respect human rights. The UN denounced that the Islamic Republic may have committed crimes against humanity in the repression of last year’s protests.

“It is clear that the world is increasingly divided into spheres, where dialogue between those with different points of view is reduced”, explained Vidar Helgesen, executive director of the Nobel Foundation, who explains the choice as follows: “To counteract this trend, We are now expanding our invitations to include the Nobel Prize and the importance of free science, free culture and free and peaceful societies.”

Source: IL Tempo

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