Invitations Withdrawn: No Entry For Russia, Iran At Nobel Prize Event This Year

New Delhi: Russia, Belarus and Iran won’t be allowed to attend this year’s Nobel Prize award ceremonies.

The Nobel Foundation on Saturday snubbed the three countries by withdrawing its invitation for their representatives after the decision announced a day earlier “provoked strong reactions,” reported PTI.

Several Swedish lawmakers said on Friday they would boycott this year’s Nobel Prize award ceremonies in Stockholm, after the private foundation that administers the prestigious awards changed its position from a year earlier and invited representatives of the three countries.

Its logic was to promote “opportunities to convey the important messages of the Nobel Prize to everyone.”

Those who opposed Nobel Foundation’s decision cited Russia’s war against Ukraine and crackdown on human rights in Iran as reasons for their boycott.

Belarusian opposition politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya called on the Swedish Nobel Foundation and Norwegian Nobel Committee not to invite representatives of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s “illegitimate regime to any event.”

The 2023 Nobel prize winners will be announced in October, and the laureates will be invited to receive their awards at a glittering ceremony on December 10, the anniversary of award founder Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896.