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Kremlin says European Parliament devalues Sakharov Prize by awarding it to Navalny

Dmitry Peskov stressed that Russia respected the European Parliament, "but no one can force us to show respect for such decisions"

MOSCOW, October 21. /TASS/. The European Parliament’s decision to award Russian blogger Alexei Navalny the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought belittles the name of this prize, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

"Such a decision of the European Parliament significantly devalues the meaning of the award’s words [Freedom of Thought]," Peskov said at a news briefing.

He stressed that Russia respected the European Parliament, "but no one can force us to show respect for such decisions."

Peskov added that "such decisions are made by people, who simply did not have reliable information regarding this particular episode and the particular story with this convict."

The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought was introduced by the European Parliament in 1988. The 50,000-euro (over $58,200) award is named in honor of Andrei Sakharov (1921-1989), a Soviet physicist and an advocate for human rights in the Soviet Union, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975.

Navalny, who received suspended sentences for embezzlement twice, was wanted in Russia for repeated parole violations after his conviction in the Yves Rocher case. On January 17, 2021, he was taken into custody at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport upon arrival from Berlin, where he had undergone medical treatment.

On February 2, a Moscow court replaced Navalny’s three-and-a-half-year suspended sentence with real jail time due to multiple probation breaches. Navalny is serving out his sentence in penal colony number 2 in the Vladimir Region.

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