June 20 (UPI) — The Nobel Prize-winning editor of a Russian independent newspaper said he is auctioning off his award to raise money for displaced children affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Dmitry Muratov, editor of the Novaya Gazeta said previously he would donate the $500,000 prize money connected with the award to a charity connected to refugee children. His 23-carat gold Nobel medal is to go up for auction in New York Monday evening.
The proceeds will go to UNICEF to assist Ukrainian refugee children.
Novaya Gazeta, one of the fiercest news media critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government, suspended operations in Russia because of increasingly restrictive laws passed by officials there.
Last October, Muratov won the Nobel Peace Prize with Maria Ressa, of the Philippines, for their efforts to maintain press and speech freedoms while under constant threat and harassment by their governments.
“Nobel Medals are highly collectible for their artwork and the achievements they represent,” Heritage Auctions, which will conduct the auction, said in a statement.
“This award is unlike any other auction offering to present. Mr. Muratov, with the full support of his staff at Novaya Gazeta, is allowing us to auction his medal not as a collectible but as an event that he hopes will positively impact the lives of millions of Ukrainian refugees.”
In April, Muratov was attacked with red paint containing the chemical acetone. U.S. intelligence officials said that Russian agents were involved in the attack.
Six Novaya Gazeta journalists have been murdered since 2000. Reporter Anna Politkovskaya, a critic of Russia’s war in Chechnya, was shot and killed in the elevator of her Moscow apartment building in 2006.
