Will the next Nobel Peace Prize be linked to the war in Ukraine?

The chances are growing as many candidates proposed before the deadline on Tuesday are directly or indirectly linked to the conflict.

According to the Nobel statutes, the list of several hundred candidates is kept secret for at least 50 years.

But the thousands of sponsors (parliamentarians and ministers from all countries, former winners, certain university professors, etc.) are free to reveal the identity of their “foal”.

The 2023 price will be announced in early October.

An elected representative from the Norwegian populist right has thus hinted that he would nominate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has become a symbol of resistance to the Russian invasion launched on February 24, 2022, for the prize. The same MP also submitted the name of his compatriot Jens Stoltenberg who, according to him, "deserves the award for his exemplary work as NATO Secretary General in a difficult period for the alliance: the brutal and unprovoked offensive against a peaceful neighboring country".



Also in the running is Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, proposed by the President of the Pakistani Senate for his peace efforts "before and during the Russia-Ukraine war".

As well as opponents of Vladimir Putin's regime, such as Alexeï Navalny, an anti-corruption activist thrown behind bars in Russia after being the victim of an attempted poisoning there, and the journalist Vladimir Kara-Mourza, imprisoned after having also survived, he said, two poisonings.

“We know today that the foundation of this war is a Russian regime built on corruption and oppression,” said the Norwegian MP who nominated Vladimir Kara-Mourza.

He "is taking part in the most important political fight to end the war in Ukraine and guarantee future peace in Europe", she argued, quoted by the NTB agency.

Towards a “Eurocentric” Nobel?

The two previous editions of the Nobel have already given pride of place to criticism from the strongman of Moscow.

Director of the Oslo Peace Research Institute (Prio), Henrik Urdal considers it unlikely that the Nobel Committee will award a layer for the 2023 prize, under penalty of being considered a “Eurocentrist”.

"I doubt they will award a third prize in a row that would point in the direction of Russia," he told AFP.

“It was difficult for the committee to look beyond last year because the conflict in Ukraine was so important and dominant… but it is also essential to shine the spotlight on other international issues in other parts of the world” , he added.

A peace prize for conservationists comes up regularly among recent speculations.

Norwegian Green MP Lan Marie Berg announced on Tuesday that she had named two young climate activists, 20-year-old Swedish Greta Thunberg, whose name has been circulating for years, and Ugandan Vanessa Nakate, 27.

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