Nikolai Rybakov’s Telegram channel, 10.10.2025

Although Donald Trump has indeed participated in resolving a number of protracted conflicts, let us not forget that he has previously taken many actions directed against peace. Moreover, efforts in the name of peace should be dictated primarily by concern for people, not personal ambitions.

In general, I believe that firstly, Nobel Prizes should not be awarded to sitting politicians (like erecting monuments to the living), and secondly, that the Nobel Peace Prize should logically be awarded for achievements that have been tested by time.

For example, take Dmitry Muratov [Editor-in-Chief of the Novaya Gazeta independent media]. He received the prize “for safeguarding freedom of expression” not for one deed, but for many years of selfless work. For more than 30 years, he and his Novaya Gazeta remained one of the few independent media outlets in Russia, working under conditions of growing pressure. The price of this truth proved high: six journalists from the media were killed.

Another example is the Memorial human rights centre. Russia’s oldest human rights organisation, founded in 1987, was awarded the prize in 2022 “for promoting human rights and the right to criticise those in power”. Memorial represents enormous work to preserve historical memory: for decades it painstakingly collected archives of victims of political repressions in the USSR. The organisation also actively helped people in conflict zones — from Nagorno-Karabakh [in the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict] to Chechnya, migrants and refugees, and in recent years has provided assistance to those persecuted for political reasons.

Or take ICAN — the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. Its activists for years conducted educational and lobbying work, which in 2017 led to the adoption at the UN of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the first international document completely prohibiting this type of armament.

It is difficult to imagine that any of these laureates, working in incredibly difficult conditions, and some risking their lives, did so in expectation of the Nobel Prize. At the same time, Donald Trump’s desire to receive it was public and persistent. The question of how enduring the agreements achieved through his mediation will prove remains open.

Therefore, in my view, introducing a delay of several years in awarding the prize would allow the merits of nominees to be assessed more objectively, outside the context of momentary media noise. After all, what is important is not simply to make a striking gesture for the sake of headlines, but to create sustainable peace that genuinely changes people’s lives for the better.

I spoke about this on the NTV channel.