MOSCOW, September 10. /TASS/. The Leo Tolstoy International Peace Prize is not intended to compete with the Nobel Prize, but the latter has lost its true spirit, said Pierre de Gaulle, head of the Foundation for Peace and Friendship Among Peoples and grandson of General Charles de Gaulle, who served as French president from 1959 to 1969.
"This prize [the Leo Tolstoy International Peace Prize] is not a competitor to the Nobel Prize. It is just that, if you look at what has been happening for many years, you can see that the Nobel Prize has lost its pillars. It is awarded to certain figures, dissidents or people who simply want to sell the award or give it to someone else for political reasons. So it has lost its true spirit," he said at a TASS press conference marking the 70th anniversary of the International Lenin Peace Prize For Strengthening Peace Among Peoples and the upcoming fifth anniversary of the Leo Tolstoy International Peace Prize.
"We are here to restore the right guiding principles. We are here to defend the true values of peace, interfaith and intercultural dialogue, which cannot be destroyed or replaced. This is the only way to restore a new multipolar order. This is our duty. This is our task. This is our honor and our will," de Gaulle said.