I have no doubt that Resa is an outstanding, very brave woman and deserves the Peace Prize, but little is known about her in our region. I am no exception. So more about Muratov, whom I know incomparably better.
Let’s start with the sad. The Nobel Prizes have long been extremely politicized. In practice, this means – not to who deserves it, who has been the best in the field, but to who should give it in terms of political diversity. For example, this year the Nobel Prize in Literature was won by the little-known Tanzanian writer Abdulrazak Gurna, who, despite writing in the world’s most widely understood English and living in London, is rarely read. Further. He, too, when he was called from the Nobel Prize Committee and congratulated him, did not believe it and thought that some prankers were making fun of him.
The Nobel Peace Prize cannot be political in nature, but it is often given to highly secondary individuals or organizations in order not to offend anyone. For example, last year it was awarded to the UN World Food Program for its contribution to the fight against hunger. They do not want to belittle or downplay the importance of hunger, but last year this organization did not stand out. So it gave rise to rumors that she was given a bonus so that no one would feel angry.
Also this year, among the favorites of the Peace Prize were the World Health Organization (WHO), Greta Tunberg, Alexei Navalny, Svetlana Tikhanovska and others. If this prize had been awarded to the WHO, it would, in my view, be a spit in the face of common sense and devalue this prize as a decorative, meaningless political accessory. If anyone thinks that this bonus is already something similar, then giving it to Resa and Muratov makes some sense of what will happen later.
The award of the Peace Prize to Tunberg seems a little overdue. The girl has already reached a more serious age, and now the Nobel Committee has decided to give her a prize for the childish “How dare you?” (How dare you?) Mean a little disrespect for yourself. One of the basic principles of the Nobel Committee is not to jump on the harrow and not to conflict. Want to live peacefully, do not inherit enemies. From this point of view, Navalny and Tikhanovsky would mean pitting Russian national leader Vladimir Putin against him. You never know what to expect from him. Therefore, better away from sin.
This is not the only reason why this honor has gone to Navalnya, perhaps a little less to Tikhanovska. In the West, not without the regular arousal of the Kremlin, there is a widespread narrative of Navalny nationalism. Since he once, indeed, ten years or more ago, has indulged in certain statements that can be treated as nationalist, they are pulled out every time he needs to be compromised.
But what about Muratov? He is also known as a zealous fighter for freedom, against the Putin regime. The Novaya Gazeta newspaper is, in fact, the only truly independent national press in Russia. One of the big troika (more precisely, the two-and-a-half) – the newspaper “Novaya Gazeta”, the television company “Dozhj” (already officially recognized as a foreign agent) and only half – the radio station “Eho Moskvi” (nominally owned by “Gazprom-media”) and its editor-in-chief Alexei Venediktov is constantly maneuvering, trying to sit on two chairs).
Muratov, like Venediktov, is not considered the regime’s fiercest enemy in the Kremlin. He is invited to the editors-in-chief’s annual meetings with Putin, and he is even allowed to ask previously uncoordinated questions. However, this does not mean that there is no coordination of questions that he will certainly not ask. The Kremlin respects Muratov and, as it is said, also reads with interest.
It is believed that the Kremlin allows Muratov to act as a forest sanitary or as an indicator of a canary in the shaft. For this reason, Muratov, a more ardent hatred of Putin, may seem like Putin’s servant, whose newspaper serves as a public steam valve. This view is indirectly confirmed by Putin’s press secretary’s reaction to the award of the Nobel Prize to Muratov. Peskov said: “He purposefully follows his ideals, he is faithful to them, he is talented, he is brave. We congratulate him! ”
This is one of the few times I can fully join Peskov. Especially for courage and trust in ideals. On the other hand, I do not agree with the assessment that Muratov is a lap dog kept in the Kremlin’s bandage and Venediktov’s ideological twin brother. Unlike Venediktov Muratov, he does not try to portray the Kremlin as loyal, “objective” journalism (not everything is as it seems, the truth is somewhere in the middle, etc.). He has a strong moral compass, and he follows. He did not pretend to be a friend of Peskov or that he sometimes drank whiskey with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, as Venediktov does, who is known not only for his flexible back in front of the Kremlin, . Especially for subordinates.
Muratov runs a newspaper in which many journalists have been killed. Not tried, expelled or otherwise persecuted, but simply murdered. Muratov dedicates this prize to them – Igor Domnikov, Yuri Shchochichiin, Anna Politkovskaya, Anastasia Baburova, Natalia Estemirova and Stanislav Markelov. Muratov himself has been repeatedly threatened with death, but this has not stopped him from demonstrating astonishing fearlessness in Chechnya, being a war correspondent there in 1994-1995. year and at other critical times.
In the end, the returnees want to return to the meaning of the already mentioned Nobel Peace Prize. There is currently a massive attack on the free press in Russia. But the status of a foreign agent is attached to various court decisions and detailed explanations, which makes the work of the media very difficult. In fact, it makes it unbearable. There are many signs that the cleansing of the media environment from independent spending will continue and that no loosening of the screws is expected. In this situation, the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the editor of Novaya Gazeta is small (because the Kremlin is easily spitting on various Western signals), but it is an airbag against possible repression by the authorities. Congratulations to Muratov as well. May you keep the free press flag high in the air!
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