MOSCOW, October 7. /TASS/. Awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos is a good and completely non-political decision, the head of Russia’s Federation Council (upper house of parliament) Committee for International Affairs Konstantin Kosachyov told journalists on Friday.

"This is a good and completely non-political decision, while the Nobel Committee does not always make such decisions," he noted.

Kosachyov pointed out that a civil war had been raging in Colombia for several decades but in the end the warring sides had succeeded in establishing a peace process. "For this country, the agreement between the government and the opposition is a great achievement," the senator noted.

According to Kosachyov, awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Colombia serves as a good example for many countries torn apart by internal strife, including Ukraine and Syria.

Santos’ Nobel prize deserved

The head of the international affairs committee of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, Leonid Slutsky, on Friday called Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos’ Nobel Peace Prize "deserved".

"This is a deserved and minimally politicized prize. It’s certainly less politicized than the one awarded to [U.S. President] Barack Obama," Slutsky told TASS.

He said the second Colombian Nobel prize winner (the first one was writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez) Santos "has really done a lot for pace in his country."

"In today’s assessments of his merits to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, it is necessary to take into account the situation in Colombia at least a few years ago," Slutsky said.

"His efforts actually put an end to a 50-year-long war that had taken the lives of over 220 million Colombians. Establishment of peace after such a long and bloody war is a serious merit and victory," he said.

"So we congratulate President Santos on the prestigious award. I think in his case the Nobel committee made a really reasonable decision," Slutsky said.

On Friday, Karin Cecille Kullmann Five, chairperson of the Nobel Peace Prize award committee, announced the committee’s decision to award the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos "for his resolute efforts to bring the country's more than 50-year-long civil war to an end."

"The award should also be seen as a tribute to the Colombian people who, despite great hardships and abuses, have not given up hope of a just peace, and to all the parties who have contributed to the peace process. This tribute is paid, not least, to the representatives of the countless victims of the civil war," the committee’s statement said.