The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in the near future will decide on the ban of entry into Ukraine of the Russian singer, who illegally visited the occupied Crimea, Yulia Samoilova, who was selected to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, the SBU chief Vasyl Hrytsak said.
“The SBU is studying this issue and this decision will be taken in the near future,” the SBU chief told Interfax-Ukraine in Kyiv on March 20.
At the same time, he expressed his position that the Russian singer should be banned from entering the territory of Ukraine: “I believe that the law should be one for all, since this person violated the law.”
Hrytsak said that we are talking about anti-Ukrainian statements of the Russian singer in social networks. “Therefore, I would have thought, she needs to be banned from entering Ukraine,” he said.
Earlier, the SBU chief expressed belief that sending Samoilova to the song competition, the Russian authorities decided to check the reaction of the Ukrainian side, and assured that “the SBU will necessarily respond.”
“We would also like to hear the conclusions on this issue of the organizers of Eurovision, the Ministry of Culture, other relevant departments,” the SBU said.
As earlier reported, Russia will be represented by 27-year-old Yulia Samoilova with the song “Flame is Burning” at Eurovision-2017 in Kyiv, who has the first group of disability since childhood and she moves on a wheelchair.
The SBU said it would check the reliability of information about possible visits of Russian singer Yulia Samoilova to Crimea, occupied by Russia, and decide on her admission or non-admission to Ukraine after that.
State Secretary of the Ministry of Information Policy Artem Bidenko said that the ministry was studying information about Samoilova’s possible performance in Crimea. He noted that the Ministry of Information Policy would not apply to the SBU with a request to study the situation, since the SBU was already aware of it and was studying the situation.
Anton Gerashchenko, Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada member from the People’s Front faction and an advisor to Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, says that the Russian participant in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 maybe granted entry into Ukraine, but she will be held liable under Ukrainian laws for her illegal visit to Russia-occupied Crimea.
He quotes excerpts from the legislation of Ukraine, defining the procedure.
On March 14, the executive supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, Jon Ola Sand, said that the decision should be taken by the Ukrainian authorities in the matter of the participation of Russian singer Yulia Samoilova.
