A Russian journalist plans to donate his Nobel Peace Prize medal to raise funds for Ukrainian refugees.
Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov will donate the prize he won in 2021 to the Ukrainian Refugee Fund, his latest effort to protest the war in Ukraine and combat the Russian government’s censorship of newspapers.
“There are already over 10 million refugees,” he wrote, according to a translation of an article published Tuesday in the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta. “I ask the auction houses to respond and put up for auction this world-famous award.”
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Muratov prescribed actions that could be taken to end the war, including stopping combat fire, exchanging prisoners, releasing bodies of the deceased, providing humanitarian assistance, and supporting refugees.
“What can we do: To share with refugees, the wounded and children who need urgent treatment what is dear to you and has a value for others,” he wrote.
Muratov received the Nobel Peace Price in 2021 for his work covering the Russian government despite its hostility toward free press and censorship tactics. The Russian journalist has long fought for independent journalism under the Kremlin’s rule, often facing life-threatening circumstances. Six of the newspaper’s journalists have been killed since its founding in 1993.
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The Russian government has cracked down on news coverage of its invasion of Ukraine, passing a censorship law on March 5 that threatens imprisonment for any reporter who publishes “fake news” about the country’s military operations. This includes calling the invasion a “war” — instead, reporters must refer to it as a “special military operation.”
Russia was ranked 150th in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index, a decrease of one spot since 2020, according to watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres.
