The Nobel Foundation has extended invitations to both Russia and Belarus, welcoming them back to the Nobel Prize banquet in Stockholm. This marks a reversal from the previous year when they were excluded due to the ongoing Ukraine conflict.

Similarly, Iran has also been reinstated as an attendee at the event held in Sweden's capital, after being excluded the previous year.

The foundation's decision to include these nations, even if their values do not align perfectly with those of the Nobel Prize, reflects an intention to foster broader participation.

However, this move has been criticized by some, including a Swedish Member of the European Parliament (MEP), who finds this year's invitations to be highly inappropriate.

Furthermore, the leader of Sweden's anti-immigration Sweden Democrats party, Jimmie Akesson, was invited for the first time but declined the invitation due to his busy schedule. Notably, out of the six annual Nobel Prize ceremonies, five are hosted in Stockholm, with the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony being conducted in Oslo.

Last year, the Nobel Foundation announced that ambassadors from Russia and Belarus would not be invited due to Russia's military intervention in Ukraine. Belarus, being a significant ally of Russia, had supported the "special military operation" that Russia conducted during the invasion of Ukraine in February the previous year.

Iran was also omitted from the guest list in the preceding year, primarily because of longstanding concerns regarding its human rights track record. The United Nations had expressed the possibility that the Iranian government might have engaged in actions constituting crimes against humanity during its crackdown on protests that occurred the prior year.

Vidar Helgesen, executive director of the Nobel Foundation, explained the decision to invite the countries back: "It is clear that the world is increasingly divided into spheres, where dialogue between those with differing views is being reduced.

"To counter this tendency, we are now broadening our invitations to celebrate and understand the Nobel Prize and the importance of free science, free culture, and free, peaceful societies."

Swedish Liberal MEP Karin Karlsbro accused the Foundation of setting a "dangerous precedent" by "giving a green light to inviting Russia to a glamorous party while missiles fall over Ukrainian cultural centers and murder children."

Speaking to Swedish public radio, she called Russia, Belarus, and Iran "rogue states" that "oppress their citizens, wage war and terror against their own people and neighboring countries".

"They're countries that don't subscribe to democratic values in any way," she said. "There's a war in Europe. [They take] an incredibly naive position. It undermines the cohesion we need throughout society."

Swedish political party leaders are traditionally invited to the banquet but Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson was snubbed in the past.

His party was founded by Nazi sympathizers and had been shunned by the mainstream for decades. It won around a fifth of the votes in last year's general election.

Mr Akesson said he would not be attending. "Unfortunately I'm busy that day," he wrote on Facebook.

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