Overview

• Norway’s Nobel Committee awarded María Corina Machado the 2025 Peace Prize for championing judicial independence, human rights and democratic representation in Venezuela.
• Speaking in Tajikistan, Vladimir Putin said the prize has sometimes gone to people who “have done nothing for peace” and praised President Donald Trump’s efforts on ceasefires in Gaza and in Ukraine.
• Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told TASS that Russia backs Trump for the prize, asserting he made “serious efforts to stop the fighting in Ukraine.”
• Trump has publicly campaigned for the award and claimed credit for recent ceasefire diplomacy, assertions that have drawn scrutiny and fact-checking in the press.
• Putin said he and Trump discussed ways to end the Ukraine war at their August Alaska summit and voiced hope for a one-year extension of the New START nuclear treaty.