The Kremlin is critical of the European Parliament’s decision to award the Andrei Sakharov Prize to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. This was stated in an interview with reporters by the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov.
We respect this body, of course. But no one can force us to show respect for such decisions. We believe that such decisions are made by those people who, let’s say, specifically in this episode, specifically in the story with this person involved, or rather the convict serving a sentence, simply do not have reliable information.
Peskov also criticized the phrase “for unlimited courage” with which the European Parliament awarded Navalny the prize. “We believe that by such decisions the European Parliament will probably devalue the meaning of these words,” the Kremlin spokesman said.
The Andrei Sakharov Prize is the main award of the European Union in the field of human rights. It has been awarded since 1988, its prize fund is 50 thousand euros.
Over the years, South African President Nelson Mandela, UN head Kofi Annan, Soviet and Russian human rights activist Lyudmila Alekseeva, Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov became the laureates of the award. In 2020, the Andrei Sakharov Prize was awarded to the Belarusian opposition.