Romanian MPs and MEP outraged at nomination of ‘Putin’s wallet’ for Nobel Peace Prize
The parliamentary group of Romania’s National Liberal Party (NLP), one of the two parties that make up the country’s governing coalition, has requested the Nobel Committee to reject Ruben Vardanyan’s nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2024, the Romanian edition of Newsweek reports.
Twelve NLP lawmakers have signed an official letter to be sent to the Nobel Prize Committee. Cristian Terhes, Romanian member of the European Parliament, has also sent a letter of protest to the Committee.
“I urge you to immediately withdraw the nomination of Ruben Vardanyan from the list of candidates for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. As a close associate of Vladimir Putin, Ruben Vardanyan, also known as ‘Putin’s wallet’, is an enemy of peace and a sponsor of Russia’s aggression in post-Soviet territories, including Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine, which has already claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and forced millions of people to flee their homes,” Cristian Terhes wrote.
The European lawmaker believes that “the nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize of a person with such an anti-peace background, who has clearly sponsored Russia’s aggression against sovereign nations, undermines the credibility and reputation of the Prize. I therefore urge you to withdraw the nomination of Ruben Vardanyan from the list of candidates for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize and continue to support those who genuinely promote peace, not unjust and unprovoked wars and invasions against other nations, such as Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”
Members of the NLP parliamentary group, which holds the office of the President of Romania and the President of the Senate, asked the Nobel Committee to withdraw the nomination of Ruben Vardanyan from the list of candidates for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. The Romanian MEPs thus joined 18 Ukrainian parliamentarians who, on April 21, sent a letter to the Committee claiming that Vardanyan is “an enemy of Ukraine” and “a sponsor of Russian aggression in post-Soviet territories”.
The address, signed by 12 members of the NLP parliamentary group and distributed to the press, says that “Romania supports the struggle of the Ukrainian people and opposes the nomination of an enemy of Ukraine for the Nobel Peace Prize. We, the signatories of these letters, in solidarity with the Ukrainian people, ask the Nobel Committee to withdraw the nomination of Ruben Vardanyan from the list of candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2024”.
“We consider Ruben Vardanyan to be an enemy of Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian website Mirotvorets, this individual is a ‘sponsor of Russian aggression in the post-Soviet territories’, a ‘contributer of Russian-fascist invaders and terrorists’ and an ‘accomplice to the crimes of the Russian authorities against Ukraine and its citizens’,” reads the press release issued by the NLP parliamentary group.
NLP lawmakers claim that “since October 2023 the partnership between Romania and Ukraine has been raised to a strategic level, and Romanian military trained Ukrainian pilots of F-16 aircraft for over half a year, therefore we find it unacceptable to rehabilitate Ruben Vardanyan’s reputation in favour of Russia by means of the Nobel Committee.
“We unanimously request that the Nobel Committee withdraws Vardanyan’s nomination from the list of candidates for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize and continue our joint efforts to support Ukraine in the interests of peace throughout the European continent.”
One of the signatories of the official address to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, Gheorghe Pecingină, a NLP Parliamentarian, wrote on his Facebook page that “as a member of Parliament, I express my firm opposition to the intention to nominate for the Nobel Peace Prize an individual who supports Russian aggression in Ukraine. The Nobel Peace Prize should be awarded to those who stand for peace! Such a nomination brings to derision the very name of the person who founded this award!”.
Claudia Benchescu, a member of NLP parliamentary group, wrote that “Russia’s unjustified aggression against the Ukrainian people has been going on for over 2 years. The whole Western world supports the Ukrainian people in their struggle for justice. We witness, day after day, crimes and horrors on the territory of our neighbouring people. In all this nightmare, it is impossible for people who support this oppressive regime to receive nominations for the Peace Prize. Insulting to the whole world, this cannot be allowed. Glory to Ukraine! “
Earlier, the Bucharest press wrote that according to the Ukrainian website Mirotvorets, Ruben Vardanyan is a “sponsor of Russian aggression in the post-Soviet territories”, a “contributor of Russian-fascist invaders and terrorists” and an “accomplice to the crimes of the Russian authorities against Ukraine and its citizens”.
In 2019, 22 Members of the European Parliament called for sanctions against Vardanyan, and in 2022, 46 members of the US Congress supported personal sanctions against him. They said the Nobel Committee’s decision to include a person “who should be immediately arrested” on the list of candidates for the world’s most prestigious prize is in direct contradiction with the Nobel Committee’s own values.
This is demonstrated by:
– the Nobel Committee statement of September 2 2023: “It is important and right to promote as widely as possible the values and messages that the Nobel Prize stands for, – for example, through a clear political message sent last year about the peace prize awarded to human rights activists in Russia and Belarus, and to Ukrainians documenting Russian military crimes.”
– Nobel Committee policy in 2022 (Russian and Belarusian envoys were not invited to the ceremony) and 2023 (invitations to representatives of Russia, Iran and Belarus were withdrawn after widespread public criticism).
In June 2023, at the initiative of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), Vardanyan was included in the Ukrainian database Mirotvorets as an “accomplice of Russian-fascist invaders and terrorists.
An accomplice to the Russian authorities’ crimes against Ukraine and its citizens… is subject to immediate detention and transfer to law enforcement agencies of Ukraine or Nato countries.” SSU also accused him of “financing Russian aggression in post-Soviet territories”.
Two months later, the former head of the Security Council of the Armenian enclave of Karabakh, Samvel Babayan said to Armenian public television that in 2022-2023, Vardanyan acted as a Russian agent in the South Caucasus. In 2023, some major international media also reported on Vardanyan’s ties to the Kremlin.
“… There can be no doubt that Vardanyan is a Kremlin man, as the Ukrainian government admitted when it imposed sanctions on him,” reported Politico.
According to Forbes, “Vardanyan enjoys Moscow’s blessing…” The Romanian branch of the American Newsweek reported that “as the EU and the United States fight for peace in the Caucasus trying to reach a peaceful settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Karabakh, Russian billionaire Ruben Vardanyan, who represents Kremlin’s interests, has called on people to take up their weapons.”
No less scandalous is the The Washington Times publication about Vardanyan’s ties to the ayatollah regime, especially amid Iran’s public threats against the United States, Britain, France and Germany over support for Israel after the April 13 Iranian attack. Among other conclusions, the Washington Times reported that “Vardanyan, one of Russia’s richest men, is close to Putin.”
Thus, Romanian and Ukrainian politicians believe that the nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize of a person closely associated with two dictatorial regimes, pursuing aggressive militaristic policies, seems not only scandalous, but even blasphemous.
