Russian Journalist Sells Nobel Prize and Donates Proceeds to Ukraine

Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov, editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, has sold his 2021 Nobel Peace Prize at a record-setting auction in New York for $103.5 million, with the proceeds intended to assist Ukrainian refugee children. This was reported on the Heritage Auctions website.

The auction representative did not disclose the identity of the buyer. However, according to Politico, the sale for $103.5 million suggests that the buyer paid 100 million Swiss francs, indicating that the medal was purchased by a non-U.S. citizen.

As originally planned, the auction took place on June 20, World Refugee Day, which became a symbolic gesture, as all proceeds were intended to be donated to UNICEF to help Ukrainian children forced to flee the country due to the war.

According to the media, Muratov’s prize has become the most expensive Nobel medal ever sold. Previously, the record was held by James Watson's prize, sold in 2014 for $4.8 million for discovering the structure of DNA.