Russian Nobel Peace Prize winner Muratov donates his medal for Ukrainian refugees

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Russian journalist Dmitri Muratov announced on Tuesday that his 2021 Nobel Peace Prize medal will be part of a sale whose profits will go to Ukrainian refugees and those injured in the Russian offensive.

The newspaper Novaïa Gazeta, of which he is the editor-in-chief, “decided to donate the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize medal to a fund aimed at helping Ukrainian refugees,” Muratov said in a statement on the media's website.

The value of the gold and silver medal will be estimated by an auction house and then put up for sale, he added.

Muratov pointed out that Novaïa Gazeta, the last stronghold of the free press still active in Russia, also wants to help “refugee civilians, injured children and sick people in urgent need of treatment.”

The newspaper also called for “immediate” measures in Ukraine: a ceasefire, an exchange of prisoners, restitution of victims' bodies, aid to civilians and the establishment of humanitarian corridors.

Some 3.5 million people have fled Ukraine after the start of the Russian offensive on February 24, according to the UN.

Novaïa Gazeta is known for his investigations into corruption and human rights violations in Chechnya.

This commitment has cost the lives of six of its workers since 1990, including journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was murdered in 2006.

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