Russian President Vladimir Putin has been nominated for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize - but the conflict in Ukraine is also likely to be on the Nobel committee's agenda, reuters.com reports.
A record 278 candidates, including 47 organizations, received nominations for the 2014 prize, Reuters quotes the Norwegian Nobel Institute's director, Geir Lundestad.
Pope Francis and former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden also received nominations as well as Putin. Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai, shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating girls' right to education, is also thought to be among the candidates, as are several Russian dissidents who have spoken out for human rights.
Although nominations are kept secret for 50 years, thousands of people around the world are eligible to propose candidates, including any member of any national assembly, and many make their picks public.The committee narrowed its list to between 25 and 40 on Tuesday and it will cut its list to about a dozen by the end of April.
First awarded in 1901, the prize includes 8 million Swedish crowns ($1.24 million) in cash. The winner will be announced on the second Friday of October and the prize will be presented on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.
