Russia’s ambassador to Norway will not attend the Dec. 10 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony because he will be out of the country on that date, an embassy spokesman said.
“It’s not a political decision,” spokesman Vladimir Isupov said by telephone from Oslo on Friday. Ambassador Vyacheslav Pavlovsky “simply won’t be in the country.”
The 2010 prize has been awarded to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo “for his long and nonviolent struggle for fundamental human rights in China,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said on its web site.
China has been accused of pressuring other countries to ignore the event, which would not be attended by Liu Xiaobo because he is serving a prison term on political charges.
(Bloomberg)
