Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photograph courtesy of the Kremlin
The Nobel Peace prize often courts controversy, with both US President Barack Obama and the European Union (EU) winning the prize in the past, but with the ongoing crisis in Ukraine many have been left confused with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reported nomination for the prize.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee received a record 278 candidates for the prize for 2014, including 47 organizations. The names of the nominees are not made public until 50 years after the awards, but names are often leaked by those who nominated the people or organisations and speculated upon by the media.
Alongside Putin’s rumoured nomination, are possible nominations for NSA-whistleblower Edward Snowden and the Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai, who survived being shot by the Taliban, who has become a figurehead for women’s rights in the region.
On Tuesday the committee met to discuss the turmoil of recent events around the world and to add their own nominations, with much focus likely to have been on the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, where many in the West believe Putin to be an aggressor in quietly deploying troops to Crimea.