Eurovision Song Contest Will Still Host Both Russia, Ukraine This Spring

variety.com:

K.J. Yossman Organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest have said they will not prevent Russia from participating this year.

This is despite Ukraine’s national broadcaster, UA:PBC, requesting Russia be barred from the contest.The Eurovision Song Contest, which will host its 66th edition in Turin, Italy, in May, sees musical artists from across Europe (as well as Israel and Australia) battle it out to be crowned winner in a vote decided both by judges and the public.The contest is organized and funded by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), whose headquarters are located in Switzerland.Mykola Chernotytsky, chair of UA:PBC’s board, has written an open letter, published on the broadcaster’s website, addressed to EBU’s president Delphine Ernotte Cunci, which requests that Russia is banned from both the EBU and Eurovision. “We would like to emphasize that the Eurovision Song Contest was created after the Second World War to unite Europe,” the letter reads. “In view of this, Russia’s participation as an aggressor and violator of international law in this year’s Eurovision undermines the very idea of the competition.“Please note that Russia’s participation in this year’s competition is provided by the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, which is an instrument of the Kremlin’s power in the information war against Ukraine and constantly violates journalistic standards underlying public broadcasting.

Russia’s exclusion from this large-scale song event will be a powerful response by the international community of public broadcasters to the unacceptable aggressive and illegal actions of the Russian Federation and support for the country’s state broadcasters’ hostile policy of aggression.”Currently,.