Earlier this month, Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group Chairman Frank-Dieter Freiling told several German media outlets that it’s likely both the Ukrainian and Russian broadcasters will have sanctions brought against them following their Eurovision 2017 spat over Julia Samoylova. In practice that could mean anything from a financial penalty to a ban of up to three years.
Speaking to Eurovision.de on Friday, Freiling said that the feud between the two countries will be a main point of discussion during the next Reference Group meeting on June 12. He said:
“There was a propaganda war between both sides, especially as the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian secret service let themselves get caught in a media trap from the Russian side. In the end, the broadcaster had to decide: go against their own people or against their international partners. The non-awarding of a visa to the Russian candidate was a popular choice for the [Ukrainian] people.”
Freiling defended the position of the Reference Group in the conflict:
“We tried to turn the process… and we threatened sanctions. But the host broadcaster had no choice in the end but to follow the political institutions, including the president and the secret service.”
Freiling said that Ukraine broke host statutes by not making sure that every country and artist would be able to participate. And the Russian broadcaster isn’t getting off scot-free either. They didn’t show up to the compulsory HoD meetings earlier in the year — another statute violation that the reference group intends to sanction.
But what form will the sanctions take? Freiling did not want to speculate, but he did discuss the available options. “Our statutes provide for a number of violations, from a fine, the withdrawal of sponsor’s funding, to a suspension of up to three years.” Next to that, he said:
“We don’t sanction broadcasters, without their wrongdoings… For the Ukrainian hosts, it will be about the clear breach of contracts and we will discuss that in the next Reference Group meeting on June 12.”
What do you think of a potential three-year ban? Should the host broadcaster be punished for the government’s rules? Should Russia be held accountable for setting up a so-called “media trap”? Let us know in the comments box below.
What ever came of this? It’s almost July and there’s been no comment.
You can’t blame Ukraine for the “trap”. You have to ask yourself: “What would my country do?” They had to chose between their own people and their enemy… i think it’s clear what you would have done.
I hope the EBU grows some teeth like this organization: http://www.espn.com/sports/tennis/news/story?id=3922734
And lastly, hope all host countries are as gracious as the South Koreans, allowing their decades-old enemy to enter & allowed to compete to build goodwill: http://www.newsweek.com/north-korea-south-korea-buffer-zone-winter-olympics-612155
Even though I’m on Russia’s side, I still do believe that both countries should get sanctioned. Ukraine: They hosted a great show. The preparations were successful. However they did not let an artist inside the host country, which again is the first time it happened to the contest. Russia: Being on Russia’s side, I had some time to think why people are on Ukraine’s side. Now I understand. As per what the Ukrainian government said, “Their purpose was not to compete. Their purpose was to create a negative atmosphere.”. I get the reason why they would say that. Now, if… Read more »
Don’t believe in rumors and conjectures! Comply with the law!
Ban and sanction aggressive and racist Armenia and Russia perpetually unless they stop their occupation of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine according to the UN and EU directives!
I would be very surprised if they actually banned one (or even both) of them.
I don’t understand why Ukraine has to get sanctioned by EBU. That’s so absurd to me! Samoilova broke Ukrainian law by illegally entering Ukrainian Crimean peninsula therefore she is banned from travelling to Ukraine for three years. Period. Russia, on the other hand, has to be sanctioned for not broadcasting the contest this year. That seems very fair to me! If EBU bans Ukraine from Eurovision I would have no desire to watch it. Hope EBU has some common sense!
The hosting broadcaster agrees to let ALL country delegates participate. “Period”, as you say. Ukraine flagrantly violated that rule of hosting Eurovision. Ukraine is now the first hosting country in HISTORY (over 6 decades of history) to refuse to let all country delegates participate. Period. There have been Literal Fascist Regimes hosting this Contest in the past, and yet Not Even One of them ever did what Ukraine did this year. There have been dozens of governments with ludicrous “laws” and active political hatreds, up to and including ongoing mutual terrorism, and yet Not Even One of them ever did… Read more »
”to refuse to let all country delegates participate. Period.”
Russian delegation was welcomed in Ukraine, not Yulia.
Russia did not wanted to participate and created on purpose that drama.
I team nobody, but is naive not to see the whole picture.
Russia deserves an award for ”the best original script”.
You are supposed to enjoy it, not take it so seriously.
Remember that Russia is the country where a political debate/talk show is a failure if the guests are not throwing water at each other or even fight physically.
So yes, Russia likes all this Eurovision drama, they struggled so much to create it.
You need to stop being so boring.
Ukraine must be sanctioned undoubtedly. Forever. First of all Ukraine must have been banned in 2016 for a definitely political song and never host the contest as consequence. Secondly. Samoilova has never crossed the border of Ukraine since she was travelling inside her country. The name of her country is Russia. Crimea is a part of Russia if something and there is nothing you can do abou it. And after Samoilova has been banned Ukraine is banning more and more Russian artists. One or two of them every day. Not before Juiia had been banned but after that. Probably there… Read more »
I totally agree, Volodymyr- i will also be very surprised if Ukraine is banned! And very sad 🙁
Ukraine hosts the contest, and they get rewarded by being banned from said contest. Sounds like a bad idea to me.
Also, I still think Russia should’ve been able to select a contestant that didn’t violate Ukrainian law. If they could host the contest back in 2009 with an enormous stage and everything, there’s no reason they couldn’t conduct a thorough search for such a contestant. The Russian TV station was either incompetent, lazy, or playing politics.
“Also, I still think Russia should’ve been able to select a contestant that didn’t violate Ukrainian law”
I don’t think there’s any Russian artist who could possibly avoid sanctions from Ukrainian side. BTW, they haven’t banned the artists who had participated in the same Crimean concert with Julia. And they haven’t banned Artsvik or Kristian who also entered Crimea “from the wrong side”. I guess the Ukrainian government would find the reason to ban anyone who’d represent Russia
Totally with @Polegend Godgarina & Chicken Kyiv on this one. Considering that both are among the nations with rather intriguing entries, a ban would mean more than a financial loss. After all it seems that both parties weren’t too keen on Russia participating, so the issue doesn’t necessarily deserve much more attention now. Fine anybody – I don’t mind, but this is really getting tiresome.
Russian govt trolls incoming
The ONLY sanction these two countries will get is a warning. Nothing more.
i don’t wanna see both banned for 3 years. 🙁 maybe EBU can flip a coin and let the fate decides who should continue participating and who should take a time off.
The ebu likes money. If they kicked Ukraine and Russia out they would get less money. If they fine them they will take in more money so guess which one the ebu will pick
This is probably the best analysis of the situation
Pretty much.
I’d be fine with banning both of them for a year, and telling them to get over their never-ending petty tantrums, but that would have a large cost measurable in money, so the EBU is unlikely to go that route.
They should both be booted for a couple years to teach them a valuable lesson in sportsmanship, decency and common sense. However, not holding my breath on this. May end up paying some fine or financial penalty. Do the right thing EBU. Send them a clear message by banning them for a year or two. Namaste. 🙂
Don’t let country to participate it’s breaking EBU’s rules, it’s absolutely against Eurovision’s ideals. Rules must be the same without any dobt, you all hate Russia, but rules must be the same, Russia did’t break EBU’rules, Ukraine did. Don’t let double standarts. I can’t imagine something worse than Ukraine did. Why Romania was bun in 2016 only for money debt? Ideals for sale? Of course Ukraine must be bun. For 3 year law, for 1 year clearly, because they was reason Russia withdrew. Eye for an eye.
But channel one from russia breaking Ukrainian law first. So over of this kind of drama put on spotlight in esc every year.
Ebu please do something.
Both of them getting banned would be fair. The Ukrainian government effectively ran the Ukrainian hosting, and didn’t even try to live up to the agreements that the hosting broadcaster made. Conversely, the Russian government effectively ran the Russian selection process, and didn’t even try to live up to the meetings and commitments that guest countries are expected to abide by.
Russia DID break a rule. They didn’t attend the mandatory HoD meeting.
Agreed. Even worse: Russia didn’t broadcast the performance, which looks like it cost well over 10 million viewers to the EBU. Both countries fully deserve sanction. Especially because they keep pouting and throwing tantrums and making this a problem for the Contest, year after year. Armenia at least had the decency and grace to not try to send an act to Baku 2012. (Azerbaijan also has arbitrary and whimsical “laws” that would have automatically banned pretty much any attempted Armenian entry.) Unfortunately, the Russian government enjoys poking a stick in the eye too much to have been similarly graceful in… Read more »
Learn English first and then try writing a comment. Okay? All participants of any event that takes place in Ukraine must abide by Ukrainian laws. Samoilova broke it. She was banned from entering the country. End of the story!
And all hosts agree to rules to make certain that all countries can participate, and the Ukrainian broadcaster broke those rules. “End of the story!”, as you say.
Laws of the host country >> rules of the EBU, ” end of a story”.
Ukraine missed 1 year because of Russia in 2015, so “eye for an eye” already done.
Let me tell you how it’ll end: a nominal fine of a few thousand euros for both, and nothing else. No one will be banned.
Bitches better not sanction Ukraine
Russia knew exactly what they were doing. They played Julia so that they could have the chance to make Ukraine look bad. Ukraine has laws, every countries has laws. If other sporting leagues and international events have to follow local laws, then why would those laws be suspended for Eurovision? It’s only Russia’s fault in this case.
Ukraine’s “laws” in this regard are equally as ridiculous as Azerbaijan’s “laws” back in 2012 regarding Armenians, equally as ridiculous as Lebanon’s “laws” regarding Israelis (which have kept Lebanon out of the Contest year after year after year), equally as ridiculous as North Korea’s “laws” regarding almost everything, and equally as ridiculous as Russia’s “laws” regarding “gay propaganda”. Any corrupt government anywhere can make any ridiculous “law” they want, and then flounce about and clutch their pearls and shriek about “our law has been violated!!!1!eleven!!”. Not all “laws” are deserving of respect. The Ukrainian “law” in question is ridiculously sweeping,… Read more »
Sporting events do bend local laws to accomodate participation of the athletes. For example, when a tennis tournament was held in Dubai (UAE), according to local law, no Israeli can set foot in Dubai. The tennis federation got upset & fined Dubai. The next year, the Israeli athlete was allowed to compete in Dubai despite a law banning entry of Israeli passport holders to Dubai. So, local laws does get bent for international tournaments. Read also the European Games where Azerbaijan allowed the entry of Armenian athletes to Baku despite their official ban of entry for all Armenian passport holders.… Read more »
Different situation. Your samples are about nationality bans, Samoilova had ban for law violation.
Stop this “EURODRAMA”
I think that only Ukraine deserves punishment. Do you remember last year? You remember who was to win and for whom all of Europe voted? Do you remember that you won last year? But now what do we see? The EBU has deliberately violated its rules and the feeling that they do not even know them. They missed a political song, they gave it a victory, they went on about Ukraine, not letting Julia Samoilova. So Ukraine is to blame, but where is Russia? Russia has not even broken a single rule, but on the contrary, the injured party. The… Read more »
Russia broke *several* other rules.
Russia skipped several Head of Delegation requirements, which were not optional. And then Russia refused to broadcast the Contest, which is exactly as much a violation of the rules as Ukraine refusing to let a country’s entrant participate.
If Ukraine deserves severe sanction for their rules violations (and I am highly sympathetic to that argument), then Russia also deserves severe sanction for their rules violations.
“…Ukraine broke host statutes by not making sure that every country and artist would be able to participate”
No! The EBU dropped the ball by playing willfully blind to the political situation. As enraged as I am by the Ukraine’s actions, this is primarily the fault of the EBU.
Exactly, it’s all EBU’s fault here. They should’ve made sure to tell Russia not to send an artist who had broken their law in advance. Of course they didn’t, so Russia thought they were slick.
That was roughly the EBU’s 4th massive mistake, not their first. 1) They let Ukraine send a nakedly political song in 2016. Other than the title “1944”, there is literally NOTHING about the performance that Ukraine sent in 2016 that indicates that it is about anything other than the present day political situation. This wasn’t “Lasha Tumbai” tongue-in-cheek “mispronunciation”, this was straight-up slagging soldiers in Crimea, period, with no further context in the song. 2) The EBU at minimum let (and at worst encouraged) juries to vote politically against Russia and in favor of Ukraine, without consequence. Far too many… Read more »
EBU first failed by not banning Russia in 2014. It is simply impossible for countries at war to have mutual goodwill for the sake of a singing competition. Killing ones neighbors is not building bridges and hence an act of war should be enough grounds to ban anyone from the contest.
Really the EBU doesnt have a prescedent of denying an entrie for politics reasons as they let in Armenia and Azebaijan even as both at declared war, and they also let in the franco spain in middle of a racist not violent war, so technically for the crimea incident they cannot ban russia
EBU prolonging this drama just makes me think they actually like it.
Both Russia and Ukraine should be banned ,till they sort their mess out.Im tired of these two countries using this competition as a battle war.Armenia and Azer could have done the same but they didn`t .
Ukraine deserves the ban more than Russia does, honestly, they would’ve done anything to make sure they weren’t able to participate. Its pettiness of the lowest form. Russia withdrew, therefore they should not be banned next year, they have taken their punishment. Ukraine, see you in a few years.
Russia didn’t broadcast the contest, though, which is further rule-breaking that invites further punishment.
Nobody is covering themselves in any glory, in this.