Yulia Samoylova was banned from entering Ukraine for three years because of her “illegal” visit to Crimea in 2015.
This means she will not be able to take part at the 62nd edition of Eurovision Song Contest this year in Kyiv.
A senior Russian politician, Frants Klintsevich, was quoted by Ria-Novosti news agency as saying Russia would boycott future Eurovision contests if the organisers failed to stand up for the singer.
Yulia was internally selected to represent Russia at Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Flame Is Burning”.
Channel One (The Russian Broadcaster), the European Broadcasting Union and the singer herself are yet to react to the news. Julia’s ban from travelling to Ukraine raises questions as to whether Russia will attend this years contest.
Source: BBC
Picture source: youtube still
Categories: Eurovision 2017, Russia
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The Russians are not innocent in this. They knew she was banned from entering Ukraine, but the picked her to cause trouble. It’s all about money with the EBU. They didn’t work this hard last year to keep Romania in the contest, because they owed money They’re bending over backwards for the Russians…I wonder why!!!
I wish they would keep politics out of the ESC. It’s supposed to be a peaceful music event, not a playground for politicians.
Agreed. Say what you will about the Russian entry (dreary, emotionally-manipulative dirge for example), the Ukrainian organisers’ decision to bar Yulia Samoylova from the contest is nothing more than petty, politically-motivated one-upmanship designed to annoy their Big Bad Neighbours to the east.
And shame on the EBU for allowing this abhorrent turn of events to happen in the first place.