Russian State Duma Speaker Volodin urged to introduce the procedure for recalling the Nobel Peace Prize | News from Germany about Russia

Chairman of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin proposed to introduce a procedure for recalling the Nobel Peace Prize in special cases. “It is unacceptable when people involved in terrible crimes are still its laureates. And those who really deserve this award do not,” the speaker explained his position in a post published on his Telegram channel on Sunday, October 17 …

As examples of controversial, in his opinion, laureates, Volodin cited former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, Myanmar politician Aung San Suu Kyi, ex-US President Barack Obama and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiyah Ahmed Ali. According to the speaker of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Gorbachev’s rule “led to the disunity of peoples, the largest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century – the collapse of the USSR,” which “has nothing to do” with the “peace process.”

“Discrediting the Prize”

Aung San Suu Kyi, Volodin recalled, the UN accused the Rohingya people of genocide in 2018, Obama received the prize in advance, although the years of his rule were marred by armed conflicts in the Middle East, and Abiy Ahmed Ali “unleashed a civil war in his country.” “Where there are no clear criteria, there will always be questions. Especially when it comes to decisions of a political nature,” the politician stated.

According to Volodin, the Nobel Prize is “discredited” by such decisions. “The credibility of it, perhaps, will be able to return the introduction of the procedure for withdrawing the prize in case of revealed facts of crimes, violations against human rights and freedoms,” he said.

On October 8, the Nobel Committee in Oslo awarded the 2021 Peace Prize to Novaya Gazeta editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov and founder of the Philippine newspaper Rappler Maria Ressa for “efforts to preserve freedom of thought as a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.” Muratov announced that he intends to transfer his part of the prize to the Circle of Kindness Foundation, which helps children with serious and rare diseases, to support Russian media “foreign agents” and the Vera hospice fund.

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(Possible) Peace Prize
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Author: Natalie Müller, Maxim Filimonov