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Nobel Prize Auction Nets $103.5 Million for Displaced Ukrainian Children


Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov, editor-in-chief of the influential Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, poses for a picture next to his 23-karat gold medal before it is auctioned at the Times Center, June 20, 2022, in New York.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov, editor-in-chief of the influential Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, poses for a picture next to his 23-karat gold medal before it is auctioned at the Times Center, June 20, 2022, in New York.

Dmitry Muratov, editor of one of Russia’s last independent newspapers, auctioned off his 2021 Nobel Peace Prize medal on Monday, bringing in a record-shattering $103.5 million to benefit children displaced by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Organizer Heritage Auctions did not identify the winning bidder of the auction, which took place on World Refugee Day.

A worker holds Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov's 23-karat gold medal of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize before being auctioned at the Times Center, Monday, June 20, 2022, in New York.
A worker holds Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov's 23-karat gold medal of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize before being auctioned at the Times Center, Monday, June 20, 2022, in New York.

The money is going to UNICEF’s humanitarian response for displaced Ukrainian children.

Muratov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with journalist Maria Ressa of the Philippines for their work to preserve free speech in their countries.

The previous record price paid for a Nobel Prize medal was $4.76 million in 2014.

Muratov said after Monday’s auction that he hoped “there was going to be an enormous amount of solidarity, but I was not expecting this to be such a huge amount.”

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters

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