Shortly before the second semi-final of Eurovision on May 11, it emerged that another contestant in this year’s contest has visited the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, annexed by Russia, by entering from Russian territory.
Yulia Samoylova, who was meant to represent Russia in Eurovision 2017, was banned from entering Ukraine for three years because she visited the Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory of Crimea illegally in June 2015. Russia has since withdrawn from the contest.
The second contestant is the one representing Bulgaria, Kristian Kostov.
A video posted on the seemingly pro-Russian YouTube channel Russia_calls on May 11, the same day Kostov will be competing for his place in the Eurovision final, shows the now 17-year-old singer performing on stage at the Artek summer camp in the Crimean town of Hurzuf on June 1, 2014, just a couple of months after the Ukrainian peninsula was annexed by Russia.
However, it seems that Ukraine could not have prohibited Kostov, a Moscow resident since birth, from entering Ukraine or taking part in Eurovision 2017. Neither can Kostov be held to account for this incident. The singer, who is still a minor at 17, was only 14 years old in June 2014, the Ukrainian State Border Service spokesperson Oleh Slobodian noted to Ukrainian news agency Interfax-Ukraine. This would mean that Kostov had to be accompanied by adults on any of his travels.
Slobodian also highlighted that the law that prohibits people from entering Crimea from Russia was passed a few months after Kostov had done so.
“The law about the occupied peninsula, which would prohibit him from (entering Crimea) only came into effect at the end of 2014,” Slobodian said, “Hence there were no legislative barriers at the time that would prohibit him from doing this in June 2014.”
Both the Ukrainian State Border Service and Ukraine’s SBU security service said that there was also no evidence of Kostov having broken the law at the time when Ukraine’s investigations of Eurovision contestants had been carried out.
“A decision on an entry ban for foreigners or people without citizenship is made only in cases when there is enough evidence, received in due legal order, about the fact that a socially dangerous act has been carried out, regardless of the place it happened,” SBU spokesperson Olena Hitlyanska said.
At the beginning of the video Kostov’s name is announced as he makes his way onto the Crimean stage wearing a t-shirt with the logo of Russia’s First Channel television station. The concert was called “Stan Pervym” (“Be the first one”) and was dedicated to Children’s Day, which is celebrated in most Eastern European countries on June 1. Kostov sang the Miley Cyrus song “The Climb” and supposedly another song by the Ukrainian singer Rozhden.
Just a couple of hours after the video was posted, a pro-Russian blogger from Ukraine Anatoliy Shariy included parts of the clip in his video blog, causing the original video to rack up tens of thousands of views in just a few hours.
