Russia: Politics of the Nobel Peace Prize Nominations · Global Voices
Andrey Tselikov

On September 27th the three imprisoned members of Pussy Riot wrote a letter [ru] which registered their desire to nominate their lawyers for the Nobel Peace Prize. This predictably caused outrage [ru] from pro-government bloggers. One of the lawyers, Mark Feygin, tweeted [ru] that the move was political — a nomination would create a protective “umbrella” over the accused. (A couple of days later one of the young women successfully petitioned [GV] the court to change her defense team.)
On October 4th, news of an actual nomination [ru] hit the RuNet — this time it was the venerable liberal radio station Echo Moskvy [ru]. The blogosphere is divided as to who could have nominated them. Some believe it was President Putin, rewarding Echo [ru] for its moderate brand of liberalism which allegedly hinders the protest movement. Others look towards the west, labeling the radio station a proverbial agent [ru] of the State Department. One thing is clear — the nomination process is a political event.