Every year the Eurovision Song Contest marks a stand-out calendar event for SBS and fans around Australia. 2017 marks the third year that Australian performers have competed. Unfortunately, this year the excitement has been clouded over somewhat by the decision of Ukrainian Security to ban Russian entrant Julia Samoylova from entering the country.
The reason given by Ukrainian authorities for the ban was that in 2015 she performed in Crimea, annexed by Moscow but considered by Ukraine as its territory. And under Ukrainian law, the authorities have the right to bar entry to the country for people not going formally through Ukrainian border control and customs.
The main producer of Eurovision, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), has expressed its deep disappointment over the decision, which as it stated, goes against both the spirit of the Contest, and the notion of inclusivity.
This week EBU Director General Ingrid Deltenre has also expressed her deep concern, and called the Ukrainian authorities ban totally unacceptable. But the official spokesperson for UA:PBC - Eurovision's official participating broadcaster in Kyiv, Pavlo Shilko says that the matter is totally out of their hands.
"As the organising committee, we have to follow the laws of the country," Shilko tells SBS Russian.
"If that's the decision from the Ukrainian authorities, we have to follow that."
Listen to Pavlo Shilko's full interview (in English) with SBS Russian, below:Mr Shilko, who is also known as 'DJ Pasha' and is a previous Eurovision participant and presenter himself, tells SBS Russian that he could not comment whether it would be realistic to expect that the travel ban on Julia Samoylova will be lifted. He says though that other options are being examined closely and discussed between all the relevant parties and EBU.
"I know that the authorities of Ukraine have been in very deep contact with the European Broadcasting Union," says Shilko. "And I know that they are trying to come up with a solution."
Nevertheless Pavlo Shilko adds that at the briefing of the 'Heads of Delegations' meeting earlier this month, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of culture Vyacheslav Kirilenko expressed the hope that all countries will be able to take part in the contest, which will be repeat of the record for Eurovision.
Shilko says, "We still hope that, at some point, there is going to be a positive decision and all 43 countries will take part in Eurovision 2017."
Pavlo Shilko also says, that the organising committee is very happy to see Australia participating in Eurovision in Kyiv, the biggest TV Show in the World, watched by more than 200 million viewers. And if other countries might take an example from Australia and join in, it will become even bigger
"It will really be the biggest biggest ever TV show in the world."
"So we thank Australia for being part of that."
"You had a fantastic participant last year, so we're looking forward to seeing another marvelous performance from your country this year in Kyiv."
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