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Muratov at the auction in New York
Photo: JASON SZENES/EPA
Russian journalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov has auctioned off his Nobel Prize medal for $103.5 million.
The proceeds were raised at an auction in New York on Monday and are intended to benefit refugee Ukrainian children.
A previously anonymous bidder secured the award for the medal by telephone.
According to the auction house Heritage Auctions, the proceeds of the auction will go to the aid program for refugee Ukrainian children of the UN children's fund UNICEF.
Muratov is editor-in-chief of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta.
At the end of March, she had to stop appearing after being repeatedly warned by the authorities for her reporting on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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After the invasion of Ukraine, Russian media were instructed to only use official information from the Russian authorities for their reporting.
Terms such as "attack" or "invasion" in connection with the invasion of Ukraine are prohibited.
The authorities simply portray the war of aggression against Ukraine as a "special operation" by the military and a peacekeeping mission to protect Russian-speaking Ukrainians.
Muratov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last October together with the Filipino journalist Maria Ressa for his services to freedom of expression.
In April, while on a train in Russia, Muratov was attacked with a mixture of oil paint and acetone, which he said caused "terrible" burning in his eyes.
Since 2000, a total of six journalists from »Novaya Gazeta« have been killed in connection with their work – including investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya in 2006.
The murder has not been fully explained to this day.
The newspaper accuses the Russian authorities of not being interested in investigating the case for political reasons.
aar/AFP