Former Russian Ambassador to Finland Yuri Deryabin has come out in favour of the decision to grant the Nobel Peace Prize to former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari. In an article appearing in the Oulu-based newspaper Kaleva on Saturday, Deryabin wrote that Ahtisaari did not get the prize because of his mediation in the peace talks over Kosovo.
The decision to award the prize to Ahtisaari has been denounced by Russian politicians and in the Russian media. The criticism focuses specifically on Ahtisaari’s role in the Kosovo question.
Deryabin points out that Ahtisaari was not awarded for his role in Kosovo, but rather for his extensive career in promoting peace.
“It is completely unfounded to claim that the peace prize had been given as a prize for Kosovo. The Nobel committee’s decision does not even mention Kosovo”, Deryabin observes.
Deryabin believes that even in Kosovo, Ahtisaari sincerely wanted to promote peace. He suspects that Ahtisaari’s critics have not even read the proposal that was put forward for resolving the conflict.
In his proposal, Ahtisaari did not call for full independence for Kosovo, but rather an autonomy that would have guaranteed extensive rights for the Serb minority.
Deryabin believes that the proposal failed because of opposition by Russia and Serbia, and that full independence became the only alternative.
