/ world today news/ Russia‘s selection of a representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, which will be held in Kyiv this year, has caused yet another scandal in the relations between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. Experts are of the opinion that the scandal was inevitable, regardless of who will be sent to the capital of the neighboring country, and the most serious troubles, perhaps, are yet to come.
Yulia Samoilova, who has been disabled since childhood and uses a wheelchair, was chosen to represent the Russian Federation at Eurovision. This happened as a result of the internal selection of First Channel, which broadcasts the competition in Russia and sends the Russian delegation to Kyiv.
In Ukraine, on the same day, they defined the election of Samoilova as a provocation. Ukrainian media reported that in 2015 the Russian singer visited Crimea. Kiev does not recognize the results of the referendum held in March 2014 in Crimea, when 96% of those participating in the plebiscite voted for the peninsula to become part of Russia. The Ukrainian authorities claim that visiting Crimea without passing through Ukrainian border and customs control is in violation of the laws of Ukraine.
She was born in Northern Russia, in the Republic of Komi. At the age of 13, he became disabled first group. Moves with the help of a wheelchair. Ever since he was a child, he participated in various music competitions. In 2014, at the opening of the Paralympic Games in Sochi, he performed the song “Vmeste” (“Together” – translation note). In Kyiv, he should sing the composition Flame is burning.
“Long-standing provocations”
Apparently guided by this opinion, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavel Klimkin stated that “the law should be the same for everyone” and added that “Russia has been engaged in provocations for many years.” A representative of the Security Service of Ukraine said that her department “will study the matter and make a balanced decision” on whether to allow the singer into Ukraine.
“Everyone has been to Crimea”
Ukrainian politicians received a response from the Kremlin. Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the Russian president, said that there was no provocation in Crimea being visited. “Most likely, practically everyone was in Crimea. There are no people who have not visited Crimea,” said Peskov, emphasizing that this is an international competition and the organizing country must adhere to its rules.
“Russian Diary” sent an inquiry to the press office of the Russian delegation for “Eurovision-2017” about what the country plans to do if Samoilova is not allowed to enter Ukraine. But from there, referring to the commitment of the head of the delegation, they failed to answer the question of the editors.
The press service of the First Ukrainian Channel, whose representative recently headed the process of organizing the contest in Kyiv, also did not respond to the request of “Russian Diary” for comment.
The MP and the Cossacks
The singer herself stated that she did not think about the problems of traveling to the neighboring country. “I don’t know. I don’t think about it at all. My task is to sing the song well, to prepare. I have a lot of rehearsals ahead of me. I am absolutely positive. I think everything will be fine,” said Samoilova.
At the same time, information about the singer appeared on the infamous “Peacemaker” site, where Ukrainian activists upload for free access personal data of people whose actions, according to them, show “signs of crimes against the national security of Ukraine.”
Against this background, voices of people ready to go to Ukraine in defense of the singer are already heard in Russia. For example, the deputy from the State Duma Vitaly Milonov, known for his scandalous statements, declared that he was ready to go there “with our Cossacks and guard it so that there are no provocations against it”.
The system of “hostile relations” with Russia
Mikhail Pogrebinsky, head of the Kyiv Center for Political Studies and Conflictology, said in an interview with “Russian Diary” that most likely official Kyiv will not prevent Samoilova’s visit to Ukraine, not wanting “to be criticized by the tolerant European society.” . The expert is sure that the singer’s safety will not be threatened in any way if she arrives in Ukraine. But the political scientist believes that she will certainly not feel comfortable from a psychological point of view, because “we have a huge number of activists who, of course, will ignore any tolerance”.
Alexey Zudin, a member of the expert council of the Russian Institute for Socio-Economic and Political Research, is of the opinion that Ukraine may indeed not allow Samoilova into the country. But the expert is sure that even if the singer had not visited Crimea, even in this case there would be no reason to expect a normal attitude towards her from the side of Ukraine, regardless of the fact that “this is a song contest, and she is young woman and invalid”. Zudin says that “the Ukrainian authorities have long built an official system of relations with Russia, which is characterized by extreme hostility.”
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