Ukraine bans Russia’s entry to Eurovision song contest
MOSCOW — The Eurovision song contest, nominally an apolitical festival of pop music confections and cheerfully tacky costumes, erupted into a political dispute Wednesday after Ukraine banned Russia’s contestant from entering the country.
Yulia Samoylova, who was to represent Russia in the May 11-13 contest in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, was banned by Ukraine’s security service because she had toured in Crimea after Russia’s 2014 annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine.
Ukrainian law allows the banning of anyone who enters Crimea by routes other than over the de-facto border with the Ukrainian mainland. Most Russians go to Crimea by ferry or air.
Ukrainian Security Service spokeswoman Olena Gitlanska said on her Facebook page that the service has banned Samoylova from the country for three years “on the basis of information received about her violation of Ukrainian law.”