Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday criticized the Norwegian Nobel Committee after Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was named the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Machado, celebrated for her courage and advocacy of democratic rights, was honored for promoting a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy in Venezuela — a recognition many have hailed as a victory for Latin American civil activism.
Speaking to reporters in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, after his state visit, Putin was asked about U.S. President Donald Trump’s suitability for the global accolade.
While he did not directly oppose Machado’s selection, Putin faulted the Nobel Committee for past choices, claiming some recipients had “done nothing for peace.”“In my view, these decisions inflicted enormous damage on the prize’s prestige,” Putin said. “A person comes along—good or bad—and within a month or two, boom. For what? They had done absolutely nothing. It ought to be awarded for actual merits.”
The Russian leader added that although he has no say in the committee’s decisions, he believes Trump has “genuinely done much to resolve complex crises that have persisted for years, if not decades.”
Analysts say Putin’s remarks were likely a veiled reference to former U.S. President Barack Obama, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, just eight months into his presidency.
Meanwhile, President Trump told reporters he had spoken with Machado after the announcement.“I’m accepting this in honor of you, because you really deserved it,” she reportedly told him, according to Trump.
White House communications director Steven Cheung also criticized the Nobel Committee, accusing it of placing “politics over peace” by honoring Machado instead of Trump.“He (the president) has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will,” Cheung wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
However, observers noted that Trump’s complaints might be misplaced, since he was sworn in for a second term in January — the same month the Nobel nomination window officially closes, according to the committee’s website.