Russia’s refusal to broadcast the Eurovision contest this year has caused mixed public feelings: 40 percent of Russians support the decision and 41 percent do not, the Levada-Center told Interfax.
Twenty percent could not say whether Russia should broadcast the Eurovision if the Ukrainian authorities ban the Russian singer Yulia Samoilova from the contest.
The choice of Samoilova is viewed favorably by 59 percent, unfavorably by 15 percent, 16 percent never heard about it, and one in ten (10 percent) did not have an opinion.
The poll was conducted in April among 800 respondents in 137 Russian towns before news that Ukraine barred Samoilova from Eurovision and Russia decided not to broadcast it.
It was reported that Russia had selected Samoilova with the song called ‘Flame is Burning’ to participate in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest. She has been using a wheelchair since childhood and has the first group of disability.
On March 22, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) made a decision to impose a three-year entry ban on Samoilova as a person who had illegally visited Crimea on the grounds of the obtained information about her breaching the Ukrainian law.
The EBU expressed deep regret over this decision and said it intended to contact Kyiv to ensure the participation of all contestants.
On March 23, the EBU offered Samoilova to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest via video link. But Channel One rejected the EBU’s offer, saying that the organizers should ensure the singer’s participation in accordance with the contest regulations.
The Russian television Channel One announced on April 13 that it would not be broadcasting this year’s Eurovision Song Contest because of the Ukrainian authorities’ refusal to let the Russian singer Samoilova in to take part in the contest.
For its part, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) stated that Russia would not be able to take part in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
“Following the official confirmation that Russian Eurovision entrant, Julia Samoylova, will not be permitted to travel to Kyiv to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, the EBU formally offered two alternative proposals to Channel One in a bid to find a solution that would enable Russia to continue their participation in this year’s event. These proposals were to either take part via satellite or to change their chosen artist to one who could legally travel to Ukraine for the duration of the Contest,” the EBU said in an official statement.
“Sadly both proposals have been rejected by Channel One and they have now announced they do not intend to broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest 2017,” it said. “Unfortunately this means Russia will no longer be able to take part in this year’s competition. We very much wanted all 43 countries to be able to participate and did all we could to achieve this,” the EBU said.
