The invitation of the Russian ambassador to Sweden to the next Nobel Prize ceremony arouses controversy on Friday, the Swedish Prime Minister openly expressing his disagreement.
“The Nobel Foundation of course invites whoever it wants. But like many others, I was very surprised to learn that Russia was invited,” Ulf Kristersson said in a statement to AFP.
“I wouldn’t have done it if I had to deal with the invitations to an award ceremony and I understand that it bothers in Sweden and Ukraine,” he adds.
The Nobel Foundation, which organizes the awards ceremony and gala dinner in Stockholm, announced on Thursday that it would invite all the ambassadors of the countries present in Sweden and Norway this year.
The Foundation had decided in 2022 not to invite the Russian and Belarusian ambassadors due to the war in Ukraine, and the Iranian ambassador due to the repression of the protest movement. These three representatives are invited this year.
“It is clear that the world is increasingly divided into spheres and that the dialogue between divergent points of view is increasingly reduced,” said Vidar Helgesen, the director of the Foundation, in a press release.
“To reverse this trend, we are expanding our invitation to celebrate and understand the Nobel Prize and the importance of free science, free culture and free and peaceful societies,” he added.
Several Swedish politicians, including Green, Center and Left leaders, said they would boycott the event because of the Russian ambassador’s invitation.
The ceremony takes place every year in Stockholm on December 10, the day when 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.
A separate ceremony is held in Oslo on the same day for the Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
01/09/2023 18:44:04 – Stockholm (AFP) © 2023 AFP
