First Secretary of Ukraine's Embassy in Norway Iryna Bilorus will attend the ceremony of the Nobel Peace Prize Award in Oslo on December 10, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's spokesman, Oleksandr Dykusarov, has said.
"Due to the fact that Ukraine’s Ambassador to Norway Oleksandr Tsvetkov on December 10 is going to Kyiv to participate in a meeting of ambassadors scheduled for December 14-16, he will not be able to attend the ceremony of the Nobel Peace Prize Award. At the same time, Tsvetkov has agreed with the Nobel Committee, that the right to attend the ceremony in Oslo will be temporarily granted to Charge d’Affaires of Ukraine, First Secretary of the Ukrainian Embassy in Norway Iryna Bilorus," he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.
At the same time, Dykusarov stressed that "the presentation of the Nobel Peace Prize, which will take place in Oslo, has no political nature and is just a formal procedure."
Some 19 countries, including Ukraine, rejected invitations for the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony. China said this was in protest against the awarding of a prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry denied reports that the Ukrainian ambassador to Norway was not attending the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony on December 10 at the request of Beijing. According to the ministry, the ambassador is to arrive in Kyiv on December 10 to participate in a Ukrainian Foreign Ministry meeting scheduled for December 14-16.
