“With this year’s #NobelPeacePrize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to honour three outstanding champions of human rights, democracy and peaceful co-existence in the neighbouring countries of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine,” it said on Twitter.

• The Nobel Peace Prize has been jointly awarded to Belarusian activist Ales Bialiatski, Ukraine's Center for Civil Liberties, and Russian human rights organisation Memorial.
• The three winners will share the $900,000 prize money. The Nobel prizes will be officially awarded at a ceremony on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.
• Last year's Peace prize was won by persecuted journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov.
• Previous winners include Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Malala Yousafzai and Barack Obama.

“With their consistent efforts in favour of humanist values, anti-militarism and principles of law, this year’s #NobelPeacePrize laureates have revitalised and honoured Alfred Nobel’s vision of peace and fraternity between nations – a vision most needed in the world today,” it added.

BREAKING NEWS:
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the 2022 #NobelPeacePrize to human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties. #NobelPrize pic.twitter.com/9YBdkJpDLU

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 7, 2022

Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch, succinctly tied some of those strings together in a tweet, referencing Russian President Vladimir Putin and his ally, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko:

On Putin's 70th birthday, the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to a Russian human rights group that he shut down, a Ukrainian human rights group that is documenting his war crimes, and a Belarusian human rights activist whom his ally Lukashenko has imprisoned. https://t.co/5Yozif0Qis

— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) October 7, 2022

Nobel Committee chair Berit Reiss-Andersen told reporters that the prize is "not addressing President Putin - not for his birthday or in any other sense except that his government as the government in Belarus is representing an authoritarian government that is suppressing human rights activists. The attention that Mr Putin has drawn on himself, that is relevant in this context, is the way civil society and human rights advocates are being suppressed - and that is what we would like to address with this prize."

"We always give a prize for something and to somebody and not against anyone," she added.

International reaction is pouring in for the winners of this year's prize.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen applauded the "outstanding courage of the women and men standing against autocracy."

Writing on Twitter, Von der Leyen said: "They show the true power of civil society in the fight for democracy. Tell their stories. Share their engagement. Help make the world a freer place."

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that the Nobel committee had honoured "the unwavering defenders of human rights in Europe".

"Artisans of peace, they know they can count on France's support," Macron said.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also congratulated the winners and tweeted a message of support.

"The right to speak truth to power is fundamental to free and open societies," he said.

Belarusian opposition politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who was forced into exile in Lithuania after running against strongman leader and Putin ally Alexander Lukashenko in an August 2020 election denounced by the international community as neither free nor fair, also extended her congratulations to Bialiatski. 

Congratulations to Belarusian human rights defender & political prisoner Ales Bialiatski for receiving the 2022 #NobelPeacePrize. The prize is an important recognition for all Belarusians fighting for freedom & democracy. All political prisoners must be released without delay. pic.twitter.com/szxmB5YG5g

— Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (@Tsihanouskaya) October 7, 2022

CNN/Kara Fox