Berlin, Germany. In late breaking news it seems both Ukraine and Russia may be taking a break from the Eurovision music competition as event organizers in Germany are recomending both parties not participate for the next three years.
Ukraine and Russia may be excluded from participating in the Eurovision Song Contest for the next three years for violating the rules of the contest. This was proposed by the Chairman of the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group and the event’s steering committee, Frank-Dieter Freiling in the findings for the German ZDF network.
According to Freiling, Ukraine violated the rules of the contest by not allowing a participant from Russia, Yuliya Samoylova into the country. “From the Ukrainian point of view, the legal situation is clear, but from the point of view of the European Broadcasting Union, this is a violation of the statute,” Kiev news sources quote Freiling as saying.
Russia has violated the statute as well by ignoring the meeting on the preparations for the contest in Kiev, he said. “The Russians also violated the statues because they did not take part in various preliminary meetings in Kiev that were mandatory … Will there be sanctions against Ukraine and Russia? Yes, there must be, because there is a violation of the statute,” Freiling announced.
Sanctions of the European Broadcasting Council will be considered after the end of Eurovision 2017, and the verdict is expected to be delivered on June 12. The appropriate sanction would be a ban on participating from 2018 to 2020, a fine or withdrawal of sponsorship shares from both Ukraine and Russia.
Russia had decided to send Yuliya Samoylova to the Eurovision contest, who gave a concert in the city of Kerch in Crimea back in 2015 in violation of Ukrainian legislation. Because of this concert, Samoylova was banned from entering the territory of Ukraine. Ukraine as national policy, attempts to punish anybody who visits Crimea or Donbass, for whatever reason.
Russia was asked to replace the contestant or organize a performance by Samoylova via broadcast, but it refused. Russian Channel One also decided not to broadcast Kiev’s Eurovision competition.