"I think the message is clear: 'We are not pro- or anti-country,' " says Kadri Liik, a Russia and Eastern Europe expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, in assessing the Nobel committee's choice. Observers said the Nobel Committee's decision reflected a sense that Europe's future was at stake in a region that has seen a rise in authoritarianism but could one day see democratic change. Gorbachev later became a founder of Novaya Gazeta. Last year, Dmitry Muratov, the editor of Novaya Gazeta, an independent Russian newspaper known for its critical stance on the Kremlin, shared the prize with journalist Maria Rezza of the Phillippines.įormer Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who died earlier this year, also won the award, in 1990, for "the leading role he played in the radical changes in East-West relations" and "greater openness" he brought to Soviet society. The prize marks the second year in a row the Nobel committee has turned its attention on the region.
The leaders of both Russia and Belarus have suppressed democratic movements at home through a growing web of repressions. Belarus has sided with Russia in the conflict - even allowing Moscow to stage its forces on its territory. Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year and has attempted to annex whole regions from its neighbor. The recipients all come from a region still grappling with the legacy of the collapse of the Soviet Union, growing political repression, and the consequences of Russia's war in Ukraine. The awards were named on Friday by Berit Reiss-Andsersen, chairperson of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, and came as war rages in Eastern Europe. BERLIN, MOSCOW, KYIV - This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, as well as two human rights organizations, Memorial in Russia and the Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine.
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