Russian Nobel winner: Peace Prize is for my paper, not me

By JIM HEINTZ
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — As a new Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Russian newspaper editor Dmitry Muratov has downplфyed the buzz around his name. The award isn’t for him, he says, but for all of the staff at Novaya Gazeta, the independent Russian newspaper noted for investigations of official corruption, human rights abuses and Kremlin criticism. Muratov himself even says he thinks the Nobel would have been better given to imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. As Kremlin pressure against critical news media intensifies, the effect of the Nobel award for Novaya Gazeta is uncertain. The Nobel aura may protect the paper or it may lead to new pressures because of its implied criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rule.