Russian, Belarusian, Iranian envoys will not be invited to Nobel Prize award ceremony

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - The Nobel Foundation on Saturday revised its decision to invite ambassadors from Russia and Belarus to this year's Nobel award ceremony in Stockholm.

“The decision by the Nobel Foundation to invite all ambassadors to the Nobel Prize award ceremony, in accordance with previous practice, has provoked strong reactions,” the foundation said in a statement on Saturday.

"The board of the Nobel Foundation, therefore, choose to repeat last year's exception to regular practice – that is, to not invite the ambassadors of Russia, Belarus and Iran to the Nobel Prize award ceremony in Stockholm," it added.

On Thursday, the foundation announced that it would invite all ambassadors to the Nobel Prize award ceremony that would take place in December. The announcement drew a backlash.

Last year, Russia and Belarus were barred from attending the ceremony because of the war in Ukraine, while Iran was also excluded due to what the foundation described as "the serious and escalating situation" there.

Human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organization Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties received the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.