A trio representing the three nations at the center of the war in Ukraine will be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Saturday, showing no signs of giving up the fight against Vladimir Putin and his Minsk ally.
Imprisoned Belarusian human rights lawyer Ales Bialiatski, the Russian human rights organization Memorial and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties (CCL) will receive their awards at an official ceremony in Oslo.
While the Peace Prize is a little balm for the souls of the laureates, it has in no way weakened their determination.
“Putin will stop when he’s arrested,” CCL leader Oleksandra Matviichuk told reporters Friday at the Nobel Institute.
“Authoritarian leaders (…) view any attempt at dialogue as a sign of weakness,” she said, urging Western countries to continue helping Ukraine liberate its Russian-occupied territories, including including Crimea.
The CCL has documented war crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine over the past eight years, crimes for which Matviichuk wants to see Russian President Putin and his ally, Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko, brought to justice.
“This war has a genocidal character,” she said in English. “If Ukraine stops its resistance, we will be no more.”
“So I have no doubt that sooner or later Putin will appear before an international tribunal.”
Memorial board chairman Yan Rachinsky agreed, although he remained more cautious in his remarks due to sanctions imposed by Moscow on those who criticize the conflict in Ukraine.
“Ukraine must fight for its independence,” he said.
“Ukraine is not just fighting for its interests. It is fighting for our common peaceful future.”
“The choice facing the international community…is between today’s unpleasant situation and tomorrow’s disaster,” he said.
Founded in 1989, Memorial has for decades shed light on the crimes committed by Stalin’s totalitarian regime and has worked to preserve the memory of victims, as well as document human rights abuses in Russia.
The country’s Supreme Court ordered it dissolved at the end of 2021 and ordered a raid on its Moscow offices on October 7, the same day it was announced as a co-winner of this year’s peace prize.
“As far as rights defenders are concerned, at this stage in Russia the situation is terrible,” Rachinsky said.
The third co-winner, Ales Bialiatski, founder of the rights group Viasna, has been detained since July 2020 pending trial following Minsk’s crackdown on large-scale protests against the regime.
He faces 12 years in prison.
His wife Natalia Pinchuk, who will receive her Nobel Prize on his behalf, said “the issue of Belarus is also being decided on the battlefield of Ukraine”.
She said Bialiatski – whom she has only seen once since his arrest, through glass – was not allowed to give her a acceptance speech for the prestigious award.
The ceremony at Oslo City Hall will begin at 1:00 p.m. (12:00 GMT), attended by the Norwegian royal family and special dignitaries.
Meanwhile, in Stockholm, a separate awards ceremony will be held honoring the winners of the other Nobel Prizes in the fields of medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and economics.
Also in attendance will be winners from 2020 and 2021, when the Stockholm festivities were canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
This year’s winners will receive a gold medal, a diploma and a check for 10 million Swedish crowns ($970,000).
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