Natali Sevriukova, a resident of Kyiv, is pictured weeping on the streets of Kyiv after a Russian rocket strike destroyed the apartment block where she lives overnightĮBU said it had consulted widely among its membership before reaching the decision. He said Russia's state broadcaster was a 'leading element of the Russian government's information war against Ukraine'.
The chairman of Ukraine's public broadcasting company Suspilne, Mykola Chernotytsky, wrote to the EBU saying that 'Russia's participation, as an aggressor and violator of international law, in this year's Eurovision undermines the very idea of the competition'. Public broadcasters in Ukraine, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Norway had all urged the EBU to expel Russia. The announcement came after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine by land, air and sea on Thursday following a declaration of war by Vladimir Putin, in the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two.įinland said on Friday it would not send contestants to the final if Russia was allowed to participate. 'They are completely excluded from the whole event,' an EBU spokesman said. In addition to barring any Russian act from participating, Russian residents will also be blocked from voting in the competition. 'The decision reflects concern that, in the light of the unprecedented crisis in Ukraine, the inclusion of a Russian entry in this year's contest would bring the competition into disrepute,' the EBU said on Friday.
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