The ambassadors of Russia and Belarus have been invited back to the Nobel Prize banquet after being denied entry last year due to Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Nobel Foundation announced, CNN reports.

The foundation said it was “broadening its invitations” to include even those who do not share the values ​​of the Nobel Prize.

“It is clear that the world is increasingly divided into areas where dialogue between those with different views is shrinking,” Vidar Helgesen, executive director of the Nobel Foundation, said Thursday.

“To counter this trend, we now call for a celebration of the Nobel Prize and an understanding of the importance of free science, free culture, and free and peaceful societies,” Helgesen said.

Russians and Belarusians have been excluded from countless events since Moscow invaded Ukraine, heavily aided by Minsk.

The foundation said its decision was made to prevent further “polarisation”.

The Swedish member of the European Parliament called this decision “extremely inappropriate”.

On Swedish National Radio, Swedish Liberal MEP Karin Carlsbro asked why the fund had invited “three rogue countries… that oppress their citizens, wage wars and commit terrorism both in their own countries and in neighboring countries” and “don’t sign up to for what to be guided by democratic values”.

Every year on December 10, the Nobel Banquet takes place in Stockholm, at which five of the six Nobel Prizes are awarded. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway. (photo: Bertil Jonsson / Dreamstime)