Kurkov Gets Human Rights Prize at Barcelona International Film Festival

Ukrainian prize-winning writer and intellectual Andrey Kurkov received another award on Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day, this time at the Barcelona Human Rights Film Festival. 

It was in recognition of “his compelling testimony that makes him one of the most authoritative international voices on the war in Ukraine.”

Kurkov was unable to be present at the ceremony and the award was received on his behalf by the Chief Editor of Kyiv Post, Bohdan Nahaylo. 

He reminded the audience that Ukraine had been honored on that day in Oslo with one of its activists being a co-recipient of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

The main speaker at the event by video from the USA was leading leftist intellectual and philologist Noam Chomsky. Nahaylo was able to ask him to clarify his attitude towards Russia’s war in Ukraine and whether it had forced him to review his militantly anti-Washington and NATO views.

The veteran American “anarcho-syndicalist” conceded that Russia was committing “horrific war crimes,” but nevertheless continued to blame the situation on Washington’s supposed obsession with integrating Ukraine into NATO.