MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Kremlin is not upset because of the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin has not received the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.
“No, we are not upset,” Peskov said, answering a corresponding question.
The Kremlin believes that the decision of the Norwegian Nobel Committee to award the Nobel Peace Prize to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons should be respected, Peskov said.
According to him, Russia is a responsible member of the nuclear club.
“Our position is well known, it has been reiterated by president [Vladimir] Putin regarding the importance and the fact that there is no alternative to nuclear parity which is extremely important from the point of view of international security, international stability,” Peskov said, adding that Russia also supported non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Earlier in the day, the committee awarded the prize to ICAN for its work to draw attention to the consequences of nuclear weapon use, as well as for its efforts to “achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons.” According to the Nobel Prize's official Twitter account there were 318 candidates for the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize, including 215 individuals and 103 organizations. Putin was reportedly one of the nominees.
