Zelensky was awarded the Nemtsov Foundation Prize: before that, it was awarded exclusively to Russians

The Boris Nemtsov Foundation has awarded its annual award to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In the conditions of the war, the foundation decided to nominate representatives of Ukraine for the award, before that only Russian opposition politicians and activists became its laureates, reports Meduza.

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For example, a year ago it was received by Alexei Navalny, who is in a colony after being poisoned and returned to Russia.

The award has been awarded since 2016.

“We had a three-step procedure for determining the laureate. First, applicants were nominated by Russian and foreign NGOs and members of the foundation’s board. A long list was compiled, which from the very beginning, in 2016, was published on the Novaya Gazeta website. After that, based on the voting results on the Novaya website, a shortlist of five finalists was determined, and the foundation’s board, according to its own procedure, determined the laureate,” says Zhanna Nemtsova, co-founder Boris Nemtsov Foundation.

This year, “Novaya Gazeta” no longer exists in its previous form; “Novaya Gazeta” is now “Novaya Gazeta. Europe". “We have changed the procedure. Now it consists in the fact that we hold consultations with non-profit organizations, with the founders, with the board of the foundation, and then, by rating voting, we select the winner of the award from the formed shortlist,” said Zhanna Nemtsova.

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She says that the fund had alternatives to Zelensky, and there were other candidates on the shortlist - the mayor of Kiev Vitaliy Klitschko, the leader of the Ocean Elzy group Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, the leader of the Boombox group Andrey Khlyvnyuk and the Ukrainian paramedic Yulia Paevskaya, who is known as Tyra. “We had a choice - we don’t have a vote for the president of Russia, where there really is no alternative. This is the consolidated opinion of the founders and the board of the fund,” Nemtsova said.

“Of course, Vladimir Zelensky showed incredible courage. We give a premium not for the past and not for the future. We give a bonus for what a person has done here and now, this year. And here and now, Vladimir Zelensky remained in Kyiv and decided to defend his homeland together with his people. He showed courage. At these moments, his words about the fact that he does not need evacuation, but needs weapons, are the quintessence of his incredible courage,” Zhanna explained the choice of the fund.

She says that the most important thing is that no one expected this from him, and everyone somehow didn’t take Zelensky very seriously.

“Even Vladimir Putin was, to put it mildly, surprised that Zelensky turned out to be a courageous man, and at the moment he is the leader of the free world,” says Nemtsova.

The fund has rating voting. It does not involve discussion. There is a short list of candidates. Members of the foundation's council and founders choose the candidate they consider worthy. Zhanna says that not all members of the foundation's council preferred Volodymyr Zelensky, but in terms of the amount, according to the voting results, Zelensky took first place.

“I don’t see how the founders and members of the fund’s board vote, because this is wrong: I vote myself. I think the vast majority of the fund’s board members put Zelensky first,” she says.

“We give an award for courage in upholding democratic values. The overwhelming majority of Zelensky’s actions indicate this. There are several examples of when presidents left their own countries to save their lives: this is the Ukrainian example of Viktor Yanukovych, who simply fled to Russia, and the President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani, who left the country after the Taliban seized power in the country, Nemtsova said . “Therefore, this is certainly an unprecedented act: Zelensky, defending his country, risked his life. As I understand it, in the first days of the war, the task was to kill Vladimir Zelensky, and he risked his life to protect his homeland, for which he receives a bonus.”

She added that the war between Russia and Ukraine is not a civilizational war, it is a war of regimes, and the question is who will win: the European, democratic path of development or the authoritarian one. She also noted that in Ukraine, the ruling parties are losing, as are the presidents, that six presidents have already changed since the collapse of the USSR before the arrival of Zelensky.

“This is a democratic country. I think that attempts or any desire to make it more authoritarian will not be successful,” Nemtsova said.

All previous nominations were given to Russian activists, Russian politicians, Russian public figures. The Fund's tasks are primarily to support the dialogue between Russia and the European Union. This time the award was received by a Ukrainian politician.

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“I don’t want to measure everyone’s contribution to Russian freedom, but the fact is that Ukraine’s victory in the war is the defeat of Putin’s authoritarian regime, it is a victory for the values ​​of humanism. This is how I feel about it, so I wish Ukraine victory. It is not stated in our award charter that we award the award only to Russian citizens. We cannot limit nominees on this principle at all, because this does not comply with the legislation of Germany where the fund is registered, says Zhanna. — And, of course, ending the war with Ukraine will be an important basis and condition for improving relations between Russia and the European Union. Russia is now under severe sanctions. As far as I know, Russia is the country that has the largest number of different sanctions imposed on it, and this is due to the war in Ukraine. In general, all the sanctions that have been imposed on Russia since 2014 are related to the war with Ukraine. The cessation of military aggression against Ukraine will lead to the normalization of relations between the European Union and Russia.”

“I have a friend. Until recently, she was definitely not interested in politics, but quite by chance she watched the broadcast of the Nemtsov Prize, when the editor-in-chief of “Mediazona” Sergei Smirnov spoke there and talked about torture in prisons. She wrote to me: “I had no idea that this was possible. This is some kind of nightmare,” Zhanna says about the value of the award. “That’s why this award is important.” We must once again talk about what is happening in Ukraine, about the resistance of the Ukrainian people, about the role of the President of Ukraine and that the victory of Ukraine is the defeat of the Putin regime.”

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