Last weekend Swiss newspaper Sonntagsblick suggested that the EBU might exclude Ukraine from future Eurovision events if it upholds its ban on Russia’s Eurovision 2017 singer Julia Samoylova.
And today the news was confirmed when Ukraine’s Kiev Vlast leaked the strongly worded letter that EBU chief Ingrid Deltenre sent to Ukraine’s Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman.
The letter, which you can read in full by clicking on the images below, is dated March 23 — one day after Ukrainian security services announced their three-year ban on the Russian singer.
The leak will do much to re-establish the credibility of the EBU, who were initially criticised for not taking a tough public stance against Ukraine. It appears that they were trying to broker peace behind-closed-doors before launching a public rebuttal.
The EBU has confirmed to wiwibloggs that the letter is authentic.
EBU: Ingrid Deltenre’s full letter to Ukraine’s Prime Minister
“Should this ban be confirmed by your office, it would certainly have a very big negative impact on Ukraine’s international reputation as a modern, democratic European nation,” Deltenre writes. “Needless to say that we are also very concerned for the damage this will inflict on the Eurovision Song Contest and the European Broadcasting Union.”
“No previous host country has prevented an artist performing at the Eurovision Song Contest and the EBU would not like a precedent to be set in 2017. We consider the current ban of the Russian singer as unacceptable. As a consequence the UAPBC might be excluded from future events.”
Will other countries withdraw?
She also says that the situation has upset member broadcasters within the EBU.
Deltenre writes that they “have received communication from a number of them criticizing the decision” and that they are “considering to withdraw from the event.”
No EBU members have come out publicly to say they may withdraw from this year’s contest over Ukraine’s actions.
Read more Ukraine Eurovision news
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EBU needs to calm down. First of all, the rule of law (one of the main EU pillars) is something that EBU, as a European organisation, should cherish. Second, mentoring Ukraine and openly threatening the country the EBU chief is just demonstrating her colonial vision of post-USSR states, which are considered to belong to the Russian sphere of influence, thus, not having agency to pursue any independent policies. Is Ingrid leaving next year because with Putin’s money she will not need to work anymore?
@BasshunterNL writes: “‘Flame is burning’ …. a crap song, yet its title is a good metaphore of what Russia doing in Ukraine: destroying Donbass with its weapons and bombs.”
Ukrainian government, it is the people who have got power after an armed coup, against the people of Donbass sent tanks and troops. Donbass people with bare hands stopped Ukrainian army tanks.
you tube.com/watch?v=E6LeF8m2PoA
you tube.com/watch?v=9NrsUCMb6oQ
you tube.com/watch?v=Hz1hZh5pBRQ
This Ukrainian army, led Kiev, killed and kill civilians Donbass.
In Kiev government sits war criminals.
1.this woman should know that these threats are nothing, coz Ukraine’s PM’s got much more important problems to solve in his country.
2. ebu’s been political for a veeery long time. with romania last year, bosnia and herzegovina this year…Russia refused to show the conest on TV, ebu is losing money, hence, ebu’s making fuss about this. greedy, hypocritical ppl.
LOL
A woman from EBU threatens a PM of a country? What’s wrong with her? ))
She honestly thinks that Ukraine’s PM has nothing else to do? There’s a war(call it whatever you like) in his country. I guess he doesn’t give a sh*** about some song contest.
BasshunterNL
If Rissia is so wrong why EBU defends Russia and not Ukraine in this situation? Last year all was the other way around.
Russia knew that their singer would not be allowed into the country when they chose her to represent Russia. Russia was the only country who did not show up few months ago when accommodation was arranged. Russia never intended to join ESC 2017. ‘Flame is burning’ …. a crap song, yet its title is a good metaphore of what Russia doing in Ukraine: destroying Donbass with its weapons and bombs. Russia must be barred from Eurovision until they stop their wars in Georgia and Ukraine. A decent European country does not steal land from other European countries. Eurovision is a… Read more »
@Tom You are absolutely right. It is evident that Ukraine is not going t let any Russian singer in. Unfortunately many commenters here don’t know what they are talking about.
Btw, Sergey Lazarev visited Crimea last summer to judge Russia’s children’s New Wave. I wonder if they would have banned even this loved in Ukraine artist if he decided to participate this year.
@Alex
It is not necessary to be in the Crimea, it is enough to say opinion, which is not like the Ukrainian regime and the singer added to the list, and since the lists are not open to the public and regularly filled in, it is no guarantee that another singer is not included in the sanctions.
Ukrainian nationalists learned the lesson.
@Ethan1994
Hahahahaha. Sure, Ethan. So incredibly easy for persons like yourself to get into the same old trap – it’s all Russia’s fault. Isn’t it?
I just wonder – how long would it take for you to unlearn the oh-so-cozy-familiar-instinctive-blame-it-all–on-Russia response?
For you personally and for quite a few of the those who are so susceptive to the brainwashing mass media power I will give a suggestion – type words “Russia Did It” in your search engine and then click on images. Enjoy.
Samoylova was picked because she was not in SBU’s black lists! Russia did everything possible to avoid this situation. And they could not pick someone from the street just to satisfy SBU, they have ambitions to win ESC again, so Samoylova was the optimal choice. But ukranians turned out to be too stupid and stubborn. And we see the result.
Oh boy… (long rant below) I guess I kind of sympathize with the EBU here, as the Eurovision is supposed to be about bringing people together, and banning a contestant from entering would be going against that (and really, what kind of security threat does Samoylova actually pose by entering Ukraine?), and they do just want to stay fair and neutral in political conflicts that make their way into the contest. But at the same time, the ban on Samoylova entering Ukraine is because she broke Ukrainian law, and has got nothing to do with her participation is this contest.… Read more »
Where’re this prepaid bots come from and talk how people should’ve live in Crimea? If crimean aboriginals have their right to self-determination, why not let them make their own country which they’ve had few centuries ago before destructive russian empire colonisation has started? Bot Suarez turned off now?
Back to theme, that corruptive lady dropped her words about some other countries. Can I suppose it’s armenian bc, who failed to broadcast ukrainian entry last year? I still remember how much armenians were brainwashed to sign petition against that song last year.
yeah finally EBU some actions against Ukraine, Let Julia take part in Kiev 🙂
Let’s respect the ESC rules in the first plase. All 43 approved by EBY members sould participate. Period.
Zach
OK, then let’s re-locate the contest to the other coutry out of respect of ukranian aithorities.
I don’t like that people are bullying the EBU into allowing a singer who broke a law intentionally or unintentionally, when the selector of said singer knew of the implications of the selection. We should respect the Ukrainian authorities who are just trying to make a level playing field during all events where people from Russia who’ve visited Crimea via Russia are not allowed to perform on Ukrainian soil. Ukraine cannot be fully at fault, you can say their decision is not a good one but you can’t say they are making things political. Russia is the stronger nation they… Read more »
Some of you don’t understand that singer can’t be replaced now. Rules are rules, and the EBU won’t break them because of Ukraine. Julia wasn’t on thier list of banned artists when she was chosen to represent Russia. They banned some ten days later. She would enter Ukraine freely if she’s not representing Russia. And one more thing, Ukrainians are implementing their !law! selectively. We had cases when some people, mostly journalists from the west, entered Crimea without visa, across Russian border, and they were banned first but then Ukraine changed their mind and even sent them an apology. It’s… Read more »
@Oxana why are you always twisting facts? Being a prepaid b*tch of Hroysman doesn’t necessarily mean that you should be stupid and evil.
@Sing: There are plenty of singers who would be interested in representing Russia. Maybe this is a good year for Russia to select an almost totally unknown singer in the same way that Austria selected Nathan Trent. Alternatively, how about Peter Nalitch? From what I’ve read on him, he seems to strike a conciliatory tone about Russia-Ukraine relations. One example (and not the only one): https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://www.segodnya.ua/culture/scandal/petr-nalich-vstal-na-zashchitu-svyatoslava-vakarchuka-504725.html&prev=search Russia should have been aware of the law, and not left this sort of thing to happen at the last minute. They had a whole year to search for a singer that hadn’t violated… Read more »
Banning Romania last year was unprecedented and a bad decision – taken in the last moment, with lots of deceiving and with lack of predictability. Obviously a rogue, political move – still unclear driven by what. Now is different, organizing countries now have the right to ban artists discretionary .Law would have been the law, and all would have respected it, if the ban was made at least earlier and closer to the time of the misconduct. And agree with @Joe accepting Julia would have been the right decision. Except if Ukraine is beyond minimum control, which is hard to… Read more »
Alex
Don’t you understand that almost all russian artist did perform in Crimea?
an update from Russia~ hehe, there’s new announcement from broadcaster regarding Pavlo Klimkin remark (“No exceptions for Samoylova, she won’t be allowed to enter Ukraine”). They will broadcast Eurovision in Russia but muted, without sound (as an protest to the last event) hahaha, bring it on, Russia 🙂 soon you’ll be out of even exotic tantrums to demonstrate your mentality 🙂 oh, I completely forgot, they discussed it as a “news from Ukraine” in the talk show on federal channel – Russia claims that Ukraine will impose law about music language on ESC and that Ukraine demands from participants to… Read more »
mawnck = ”You really think all those other guys aren’t the same dude? And you really think that’s a Romanian? Think about it … why would Wiwibloggs suddenly get all these rabidly anti-Ukraine “Romanians” who are so desperate to drag their thing from last year into the middle of this mess, when (a) it’s absurdly obvious to everyone that they’re two different situations, and (b) they’ve been enthusiastically welcomed back in? You guys have GOT to do better than this at Russian troll-spotting. They’re playing you like fiddles. Use some sense!” You are not very clever. Romania still thinks about… Read more »
All of this plays into Russia’s hand. EBU is playing into Russia’s hand. So was Ukraine though. Russia sent a artist that performed in Crimea, aspecting her to get banned. She did get banned. If Ukraine just said “You know what, we are going to do the unexpected and rise above it and not ban Russia” If they did this , then the EBU wouldn’t become Russia puppet and Russia wouldn’t be able to play this game. However Ukraine instead has played into the Russia’s hand . Ukraine would of always came out of this situation better , if they… Read more »
It’s just so unfortunate that the Russian delegation had to stir all this drama. They had plenty of artists to choose from that hadn’t broken Ukrainian law and had plenty of time to do so. Instead, they choose to reveal their artist who they knew could be disqualified on the very last day of submission. That’s just sneaky. It’s clear they don’t really want to participate this year, they should have just said so earlier and all this could have been avoided.
EBU has just become a puppet for the Kremlin.
Wiwibloggs has become a puppet for the EBU.
Ukraine should have never won lat year with that horrid song. Move the contest somewhere else asap
@Criticca
How do you know that Russia will go 1st in televote this year in case of…? I am not sure of it since for me the song is a little bit not too good.
You maybe sd have prayed for the juries judge all songs FAIRLY the last year when Russia was the obvious winner and the contest had all chances to be held in a proper way.
And today it is really late to pray.
Russia got politically defeated last year by Ukraine so now they want to make them feel the same way. Honestly I won’t be surprised if Yulia wins ESC this year with that boring song. It will be 2011 all over again. I pray the juries judge all songs FAIRLY this year if Russia does end up participating because we all know that they will come 1st on televotes!
Well-well-well. 30th march famous russian comedy group Comedy Woman had the concert in Kiev. But…wait a minute… They had concert in Crimea in 2014! How did you say? Law is same for everybody?
Russia could easily solve this problem by sending a singer that has not performed in Crimea. You’re telling me that a country that expended significant effort to annex the region is too incapable to find a singer that didn’t perform there? Come on.
@Oxana
“If Ukraine will leave the contest all small sized countries will have to significantly increase their payments to cover this loss. Because EBU is only about money.”
What was EBU about almost a year ago when it let 1944 participat and win? Make an effort and ask yourself.
I only have to say that if this was going the other way (Russia hosting and Ukraine going there) Ukraine would have withdrawn and won’t have had this drama made on purpose, or if they wanted to enter, everyone would have encouraged them to withdraw, or even celebrating the ban. The solution is (or was) extremely simple: Russia had to change singer or simply withdraw before the deadline. They’re doing nothing trying to get in Ukraine a singer which they already knew it was banned for acting in Crimea. Remember Ukraine is not banning Russia, it’s banning her; I imagine… Read more »
@Oxana I predicted accurately what Klimkin would say several hours before Klimkin made a statement. Ukrainian political establishment is a decaying corpse which creates a whole lot of stink for normal people in your poor country. Ukraine will never host Eurovision again, at least not as a country (what’s left of it) we know. Most people with common sense and honesty would agree that Ukraine should have never been allowed anywhere near organizing and hosting Eurovision. Russia was the real winner of the last year’s contest. It’s a fact. Ukraine was encouraged to send a politically charged song to the… Read more »
Dear All,
Whatever happens – happens. It’s April 1st already in Russia and our Sergey will be 34 today. Just enjoy his new song and video. WiWi will show it, I don’t even doubt it.
EscIta “Sweden could host the show…there’s time” yes, indeed 🙂 if Ukraine will terminate its contract with EBU in the following years smaller countries will do the same and eventually this contest will be just like 50 years ago, big 5 + Swedish mafia. one interesting aspect of this drama in esc bubble that it will never get out of the bubble and will never have any impact on the 95% of ESC viewers and supporters (they vote with their money too, in case you cheeky eurofans forgot). people who will watch TV wont notice anything strange, everything would be… Read more »
Move the contest from Ukraine!!!!!. It’s a failed state and failed society. I think Sweden could host the show…there’s time
the idea of “ban” for country that will refuse to accept another country’ contestant is a fake and speculation. there’s no such rule or obligation for host country to accept all entries and no mechanism to penalize host country for the same. EBU is commercial organisation, it has nothing to do with laws and all it’s rules is to secure income. you people who cries “ban ban ban” aloud, where’s your facts? Ukraine pays more broadcasting fees than Russia because of population and ratings, you might think it’s the opposite but it’s not. If Ukraine will leave the contest all… Read more »
EBU obviously shows they were trying (and still are) to find a solution! And that’s the right thing to do. Eurovision shouldn’t be used for political reasons!
Yes, the image of Ukraine will be damaged, if it’s not damaged already! They can exclude them from Eurovision or other events!
But are other countries going to withdraw? That will be unprecedented! There will be no Eurovision in that case.
Sometimes I hope everything will be ok in May and some other times I fear that something will happen the very last moment and blow it all up.
@Nikolay the fact that Samoilova was banned not because of the Ukrainian legislation has not been clear only for idiots. Russian residents regularly tour Ukrainian cities and most of them have been to Crimea at least ones. This Comedy Woman scandal is just nonsense. Samoilova gave just one concert in Crimea at a charity event for sportsmen with disabilities in 2015 but she was not banned back then in spite of the law. Comedy Woman ladies have had a lot of events in Ukraine with political statements, for example singing a song about Putin. But they are welcomed in Ukraine.… Read more »
Sharij showed and laughed how Ukraine respects its laws, from 5 min.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYD5WFnWkYA
http://ukropnews24.com/kiev-let-the-group-speaking-in-the-crimea-blogger/
Read this.
@Marie as long as crimeans want to be part of Russia, no one gives a f*ck to the prejudiced opinion of 100 countries (out of 205 UN members). Each nation has a fight of self determination and that’s a fundamental right.
While this whole circus between the EBU and Ukraine is taking place and we’re here all almost fighting against each other with our different views on this topic, Russia is there laughing hard and hard every second with all this … cause in the end they got what they wanted … and messing with us and putting us all against each other … the fruit never falls far from the “already dead” tree.
Borderless Europe doesn`t mean that neighbours doesn`t respect borders of each other.
What I don’t understand is how one user can utter so much bull**** and how the wiwi moderators don’t get the putrid smell from it!!
@Buh-bye!
Ha ha….best response to troll users ever. 😛