Nobel Foundation, the administrator and financier of Nobel Prizes, has reversed its earlier decision to invite the ambassadors for Russia and Belarus to the 2023 ceremony after the organisation received backlash.

Last year, both Russia and Belarus were not invited to the ceremony as part of Western nations’ efforts to isolate Russia following the Kremlin’s military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Iran was also not invited last year after the government crackdown on protesters during a massive demonstration that rocked the country after the death of a young woman at the hands of the country’s moral police.

However, the Nobel Foundation decided not to do the same this year and announced some weeks ago that it would extend invitations to Russia, Belarus and Iran to attend the December ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden.

“The world is increasingly divided into spheres, where dialogue between those with differing views is being reduced,” Mr Helgesen said in a previously circulated statement. “To counter this tendency, we are now broadening our invitations.”

However, the decision immediately sparked outrage in the country’s headquarters in Sweden, with several Swedish lawmakers vowing to boycott the ceremony as they could not share a room with representatives of Russia.

The backlash ultimately forced the Nobel Foundation to take a reverse turnaround and disinvite the three countries to this year’s ceremony, saying the organisation acknowledged that it had “provoked strong reactions” that had “completely overshadowed this message.”