X-SPEED-DRESS — The ambassadors of Russia and Belarus were excluded from this year’s Nobel ceremony in Stockholm because of the war in Ukraine.
The Nobel Foundation, a private organization that administers the prestigious awards, usually invites ambassadors based in Sweden to the annual award ceremony on December 10.
“But due to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the Nobel Foundation has decided not to invite the ambassadors of Russia and Belarus to the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm,” it said in a statement on Tuesday.
The organization also said it would continue to invite leaders of all parties in the Swedish Parliament, with the exception of the anti-immigration Swedish Democrats.
The group, which has sought to distance itself from its far-right roots, won more than 20% of the vote in the September 11 elections in Sweden to become the country’s second-largest political party and a pro-establishment partner. of the new centre-right government.
The Nobel Foundation said it had no reason to reconsider its previous decision to disqualify the Swedish Democratic Party, noting that the Nobel Prizes “are based on respect for science, culture, humanism and internationalism”.
The Nobel Prizes are always awarded on December 10, the anniversary of the award’s founder Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896.
