Nemtsova to share prize with Ukraine

WARSAW – Zhanna Nemtsova, the daughter of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was shot to death in February 2015, has announced that she would donate 700,000 euros, part of the sum she received as a winner of Poland’s Lech Walesa Solidarity Prize, to charity projects in Ukraine, according to Polskie Radio’s Russian service. “Part of the prize in the amount of 700,000 euros will be funneled into charity projects in the Eastern Partnership countries. This is stipulated in the conditions of the prize. All these charity projects will be financed in Ukraine, which is suffering from the stark war. The support will be given to the families of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes [the people killed during Euro-Maidan protest events in Ukraine in the fall and winter of 2013–2014]. In addition, it will be spent on repairs to schools and procurements of equipment in the Ukrainian regions that are hosting internally displaced persons [from the annexed Crimea and occupied Donbas in eastern Ukraine]. A Crimean Tatar TV channel in exile, which is now broadcasting from Kyiv, will also be given support. This is a stronghold of the freedom of speech and [the supplier of] objective news about the situation in the peninsula,” Ms. Nemtsova said in Warsaw on August 4 prior to the awarding ceremony. She also said that she planned to “give grants to the Belarus-based portal Charter97 [charter97.org] whose editor-in-chief is Nata Radina.” The Lech Walesa Solidarity Prize is an annual Polish award for promotion and protection of democracy and civil liberties. It was established in 2014 by Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski. The Solidarity Prize is the first global distinction for democracy and freedom awarded by a country that made its systemic transformation in a peaceful way. In total, the prize value is 1 million euros: the amount of 250,000 euros is the cash prize for the prize-winner; 50,000 euros are earmarked for financing the prizewinner’s participation in the award ceremony and a study visit to Poland for the prizewinner or a group of persons selected by him/her; 700,000 euros are allocated to finance development cooperation projects chosen by the prizewinner. Ms. Nemtsova said that the 250,000 euros allocated to her would be channeled into the Boris Nemtsov Foundation. (UNIAN)