Russia smears US with Nobel committee claim
The Local Norway - [email protected]
Published: 2 Jun, 2015 CET.
Updated: Tue 2 Jun 2015 15:04 CET
Russian media is claiming that the United States has lobbied the Norwegian Nobel Committee to award the peace prize to Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, citing a 'leaked' letter which the US embassy in Oslo has dismissed as a fake.
Russian state-owned news agency Sputnik reports that the letter “describes an agreement between Ukraine and the US to pressure the Norwegian Nobel Committee to nominate President Poroshenko for the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize.”
The letter, which purports to have been sent to the embassy by Volodymyr Groysman, Chairman of the Ukrainian parliament, asks the United States to provide further assurances that Poroshenko will be awarded the prize
”It is of utmost importance for Mr Poroshenko to have firm guarantees that he will be awarded the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize," the letter reads, "Since it could highlight the unanimous support of Ukrainian integrity by the democratic community of the world.”
It then refers back to apparent previous US assurances that two of the five members of the committee already backed Poroshenko's candidacy.
It then, somewhat suspiciously given reports of US embarrassment at Barack Obama's receipt of the award, asks the embassy to engage "those senators who effectively cooperated with the committee in 2009", the year the prize was won by the US president.
Both the Ukrainian parliament and the US embassy in Oslo have dismissed the letter as a fake.
”We believe the letter is a fabrication and a fraudulent attempt to fabricate a story,” Emilie Bruchon, Deputy Public Affairs Officer at the US embassy in Oslo wrote in a statement.
”The information is false. There is no letter registered with that number in the database of the chairman of parliament. This is 100% false,” Dmytro Stoliarchuk, spokesperson for Volodymyr Groysman, Chairman of the Ukrainian parliament told Norway's Aftenposten newspaper.
The origin of the story appears to be a post by the 'alternative historian' Eric Zuesse, a frequent contributor to www.Ukrainewar.info, an English language news site which supports Russia's position on the Ukraine.
Olav Njølstad, secretary of the Nobel Committee also thinks the letter is a fabrication
”We can only speculate on the reasons why someone would fabricate and spread this type of disinformation,” he wrote in a text message to Aftenposten.
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Russian state-owned news agency Sputnik reports that the letter “describes an agreement between Ukraine and the US to pressure the Norwegian Nobel Committee to nominate President Poroshenko for the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize.”
The letter, which purports to have been sent to the embassy by Volodymyr Groysman, Chairman of the Ukrainian parliament, asks the United States to provide further assurances that Poroshenko will be awarded the prize
”It is of utmost importance for Mr Poroshenko to have firm guarantees that he will be awarded the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize," the letter reads, "Since it could highlight the unanimous support of Ukrainian integrity by the democratic community of the world.”
It then refers back to apparent previous US assurances that two of the five members of the committee already backed Poroshenko's candidacy.
It then, somewhat suspiciously given reports of US embarrassment at Barack Obama's receipt of the award, asks the embassy to engage "those senators who effectively cooperated with the committee in 2009", the year the prize was won by the US president.
Both the Ukrainian parliament and the US embassy in Oslo have dismissed the letter as a fake.
”We believe the letter is a fabrication and a fraudulent attempt to fabricate a story,” Emilie Bruchon, Deputy Public Affairs Officer at the US embassy in Oslo wrote in a statement.
”The information is false. There is no letter registered with that number in the database of the chairman of parliament. This is 100% false,” Dmytro Stoliarchuk, spokesperson for Volodymyr Groysman, Chairman of the Ukrainian parliament told Norway's Aftenposten newspaper.
The origin of the story appears to be a post by the 'alternative historian' Eric Zuesse, a frequent contributor to www.Ukrainewar.info, an English language news site which supports Russia's position on the Ukraine.
Olav Njølstad, secretary of the Nobel Committee also thinks the letter is a fabrication
”We can only speculate on the reasons why someone would fabricate and spread this type of disinformation,” he wrote in a text message to Aftenposten.
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