Nobel Prize-Winning Russian Journalist Auctions Off Medal To Raise Money For Ukrainian Children

Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov has offered his Nobel Peace Prize medal for auction in an effort to help children affected by the war in Ukraine.

The highest bid as of Monday morning was $550,000, and is expected to increase. All proceeds will go directly to UNICEF in their effort to support Ukrainian children.

“We want to return their future,” Muratov told AP News.

Online bidding on the medal began June 1, and will conclude with a live auction at The Times Center in Manhattan on World Refugee Day, June 20. The medal is being sold by Heritage Auctions, which will not be taking any portion of the proceeds.

“It’s a very bespoke deal,” Joshua Benesh, the chief strategy officer for Heritage Auctions, told AP News. “Not everyone in the world has a Nobel Prize to auction and not every day of the week that there’s a Nobel Prize crossing the auction block.”

Only a few months have passed since Muratov received the gold medal in October 2021 for co-founding the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta.

The newspaper has been critical of the Kremlin since its establishment in 1993 and has challenged the restrictions imposed by the Russian government on dissenting media. However, the newspaper shut down as the Kremlin clamped down on journalists soon after Russian forces invaded Ukraine. The new Russian law made it punishable by 15 years in jail to report anything that went against the government’s narrative.

Muratov was the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta when the publication shut down in March.

Muratov and Maria Ressa, a journalist from the Philippines, shared the Nobel Peace Prize last year for their strides in preserving free speech in their respective countries despite threats and tightening restrictions. They both received gold medals of their own.

Selling the medal was Muratov’s idea “to give the children refugees a chance for a future.” He already announced he was donating the additional $500,000 cash that came with the award to charity.

Muratov estimated his medal would raise $2 million or more, but wasn’t sure what the final amount would be.

"The finale will be as unexpected for me as it is for you," he told Reuters.

Giving away the gold medal is in some way similar to Ukrainian refugees losing their mementoes and "their past" because of the war, the journalist said.

"My country invaded another state, Ukraine. There are now 15.5 million refugees ... We thought for a long time about what we could do ... and we thought that everyone should give away something dear to them, important to them," Muratov told the outlet.

"They want to take away their future, but we must make sure that their future is preserved ... the most important thing we want to say and show is that human solidarity is necessary,” he added.