The Polish Border Guard didn’t let Ukrainian musicians from Ot Vinta band cross the border into Poland, where the musicians were supposed to perform at a festival dedicated to the Ivana Kupala holiday in Przemysl, a city located near the eastern border with Ukraine, on July 2.
The reason why musicians were banned from the country was the threat from local hard-core soccer fans, called the ultras, in Przemysl. The violent group promised to burn down the stage of the Night on Ivana Kupala festival and stage mass riots if the Polish authorities let Ot Vinta to perform in Poland.
Ultras accused Ot Vinta of openly supporting Ukraine’s nationalistic leader Stepan Bandera and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, a group which Ukrainian nationalism by fighting Soviet Russians, Germans and Poles during World War II. According to inside-poland.com news website, the activists in Poland objected to Ukrainian nationalist symbols because the Banderites killed Poles during World War II.
The anti-Ukrainian activists previously attacked Ukrainian demonstrators in Przemysl, who gathered to mark the anniversary of Polish-Ukrainian cooperation in the struggle against Russia in 1920 on April 21. Polish leader Jozef Pilsudski and Ukraine’s Peoples Republic leader Simon Petliura signed the Warsaw Treaty to confront the threat from Moscow together in 1920.
“After their threats, the mayor of Przemysl asked the organizers of the festival to cancel out invitation to the concert, because the local police can’t guarantee the safety for the festival guests. And there is no need to provoke the Polish people by the performance of Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) supporters,” wrote Yuriy Zhuravel, the Ot Vinta vocalist on Facebook.
Zhuravel claimed that after Night on Ivana Kupala festival was cancelled, Ukrainian minority in Poland invited Ot Vinta to perform in Warsaw instead. The official invitation from the Lublin consul helped them to cross the Ukrainian border point. However, the musicians didn’t manage to get to Poland anyway, because Polish border guards detained them at border point and questioned them for 9 hours.
“Later Polish border guards explained us that they received an order from Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs of to ban us from entering the state. To make things worse, there were even threats to deport us and cancel our five-year Schengen visas,” wrote Zhuravel.
After nine hours at the Polish border point, musicians had to go back home to Ukraine with the termless travel ban stamps in their passports.
Zhuravel was insulted by the ban and filed a claim to Ukrainian Ambassador in Poland Andrii Deshchytsia with the request to study the situation and react.
No reaction has come from Ukrainian and Polish authorities yet.
“I don’t understand where they found fascism in our songs. Is this the beginning of border closure between European Union and Ukraine?” wrote another Ot Vinta participant Serhii Myronchuk.
The Ot Vinta music band video.
