Blacklisted artists will be unable to attend Eurovision in Kyiv
Russian artists that were added to the Ukrainian black list of cultural workers will not be able to participate in Eurovision held in Kyiv in 2017, as stated in an interview with Liga.net by the Deputy Director General of the National Television Company of Ukraine, the executive producer of Eurovision-2017, Oleksandr Kharebin.
According to him, today, Russia is an official participant of Eurovision-2017. However, artists that are banned from entering Ukraine will not be able to participate in the competition. “A ban against entering the country is in force for certain people which pose a threat to the national security of Ukraine. Competent authorities of our country will make a decision if such a situation occurs. There is no use in discussing speculations. It’s an internal affair of our country,” Kharebin said.
On December 7, it was reported that organizers of Eurovision called on Ukrainian authorities to cancel the black list of Russian artists during the competition. However, on December 8, the State Security Service of Ukraine denied the information that the ban could be temporarily canceled.
By the end of October 2016, the State Security of Ukraine had banned 140 Russian artists and media personalities from entering the country.