Ukraine calls on EBU to respect its sovereignty

Members of the Supervisory Board of PJSC National Public Television and Radio Broadcasting Company of Ukraine have released an official statement in response to a letter from EBU Director General Ingrid Deltenre to Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman and have called on the EBU to respect the sovereignty of Ukraine and not to transform the EBU into the tool of “strengthening of foreign political manipulation”, UA: Pershy reports.

Members of the Supervisory Board are concerned by a direct threat in this letter that PJSC National Public Television and Radio Broadcasting Company ‘will be excluded from further events’ (namely hosting of Eurovision), if Russian singer Yulia Samoilova is banned from entering Ukraine to participate in the Eurovision 2017. Having visited Crimea without the permission of the Ukrainian authorities, Yulia Samoilova violated the sovereignty and laws of Ukraine. Except the Russian Federation, no other country, the public broadcasters which are members of the European broadcasting Union, has no reason to contest the qualification of the actions of Yulia Samoilova, since no European country does not recognize the Crimea as a part of the Russian Federation.

“The requirement to cancel the decision of the security Service of Ukraine, adopted within its legal powers, and the thesis approval of decisions of the security Service of Ukraine with the European broadcasting Union, can be regarded as interference in the internal affairs of Ukraine, that are beyond the powers of the EBU and objectives of the Eurovision”, – the statement reads.

Members of the Supervisory Board urged the EBU to respect the sovereignty of the country: “We call Mrs Deltenre in her role as the Director General of the EBU to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty, not to turn the European Broadcasting Union into a tool for strengthening foreign political manipulations and not to prevent, by such statements, the normal and full-fledged conduct of the contest - this year, as well as the next year”.

As reported earlier, on 22 March, the security Service of Ukraine announced that it has decided to ban Samoilova to enter the country.

EBU Director General Ingrid Deltenre sent a letter to Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman, in which she informed that Ukraine may be excluded from the contest in case of non-admission of the Russian singer. The letter was published on the Oikotimes website.