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Russian ESC fans (2012 in Baku): No trip to Turin
Photo: Ryumin Alexander / picture alliance / dpa
Russia will be banned from this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Turin due to the invasion of Ukraine.
This was announced by the responsible European Broadcasting Union EBU on Friday evening in Geneva.
Russia's participation in this year's ESC would "bring the competition into disrepute given the unprecedented crisis in Ukraine," the EBU said on Friday.
Russia launched a major attack on Ukraine on Thursday morning, triggering shock and horror around the world.
The European Broadcasting Union announced on Thursday that the ESC was a non-political, cultural event.
"However, the EBU is concerned about the current events in Ukraine and will continue to monitor the situation closely."
Where does politicization begin?
After Russia invaded Ukraine, Ukraine had demanded that EBU member channels consider excluding Russia from this year's ESC in Italy as early as possible.
In his letter to the EBU President, Delphine Ernotte Cunci from France, the CEO of the Ukrainian public broadcaster (Suspilne) stressed that Russian broadcasters had been systematically involved in the disinformation policy related to the Russian attack.
This contradicts the basic rules of the EBU.
That is why membership should be suspended by Channel 1, the Russian ESC organizer, among other things.
The Ukrainian radio official points to the exclusion of the Belarusian broadcaster BTRC as a direct model for this approach.
She was suspended from the EBU for three years in August 2021 for not helping to protect press freedom in the Eastern European country.
The Russian broadcasters are a comparable instrument of power, according to the Suspilne boss.
At first, the EBU made only very general statements about the war in Ukraine, emphasizing the importance of free media reporting.
The Eurovision Song Contest is the most prominent example of EBU members working together.
But there are always arguments about the participation of different countries, often linked to the individual nominated songs.
In 2021, the Belarusian title was not allowed by the EBU because its text made fun of the protests against the re-election of President Lukashenka.
In 2009, too, the Georgian contribution »We Don't Wanna Put In« fell victim to the article in the ESC rules, which emphasizes that the song competition must not be politicized under any circumstances.
However, Ukrainian radio saw the participation of the aggressor Russia in the ESC as a politicization of the competition and a violation of the rules.
A view that was first shared by Hanna Stjärne, head of the Swedish EBU member institution SVT: "The EBU needs to rethink," said Stjärne.
She sympathizes with the basic idea of the ESC as a non-political event.
But Russia's invasion of Ukraine crosses all borders.
Boycott threat from Finland
On Friday, representatives of the Danish and Norwegian ESC broadcasters also announced that the EBU had been informed that it was wrong for Russia to take part in the song contest.
Finland's Yle went the furthest: they had no intention of participating in the competition if Russia was invited, Ville Vilé, director of Yle's Creative Content and Media Unit, said in a press release.
The Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), which is in charge of the German ESC contribution on the ARD, referred to the EBU on Friday afternoon in response to a SPIEGEL request.
An hour and a half later, she announced her decision.
It was said in the EBU statement that the time had been taken to discuss them extensively with the members.
In the early evening, the two German EBU members ARD and ZDF welcomed the decision to deny Russia participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.
The ESC is a musical festival of the peoples of Europe, represents values such as freedom and diversity and is a peaceful competition between creative minds.
»If one country participating in the ESC is attacked by another, we show solidarity within the European ESC family.
That's why the decision against Russia's participation is correct at this point," explained ARD chairwoman Patricia Schlesinger and ZDF director Thomas Bellut on Friday.
The war had had consequences in sport before.
Formula 1 decided to cancel the Russian Grand Prix this season, and UEFA moved the Champions League final from Saint Petersburg to Paris.
The ESC is scheduled to take place on May 14th with its grand finale in Turin.
Russia and Ukraine would already be in the first semi-final on May 10th.
met in which both countries were drawn to qualify for the final.
Latvia also competes in the first semi-final - the Latvian representatives, the band Citi Zeni, had also asked the EBU to reconsider a Russian participation.
The hashtag #EurovisionWithoutRussia has been circulating on social networks since Thursday – the Russian Eurovision page on Instagram responded with #EurovisionWithRussia.
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"Russian Woman" singer Manizha
Photo: Soeren Stache / picture alliance / dpa
But the war of aggression against Ukraine is also viewed critically in the Russian ESC scene.
The singer of the 2021 Russian entry, Manizha, posted a black square on Instagram and wrote that any war between Russia and Ukraine is fratricide.
Two-time third-place finisher (2016 and 2019) Sergey Lazarev also posted the black mourning square and begged those responsible to sit down at the negotiating table: »Let the people live!
Nobody supports the war!
I want my children to live in peacetime!«
The 2020 Russian contestant, Little Big, simply posted the words "No War" in English and Russian.
The singer Natalia Podolskaya nostalgically recalled her performance at the ESC in Kiev in 2005 and posted two hands in Russian and Ukrainian colors.
When the Eurovision Song Contest was held in the Ukrainian capital for the second time, Russia could not take part because it had nominated a singer who had performed in the occupied Crimea peninsula.
But the prevented participant from 2017 (who was then allowed to sing in 2018), Julia Samoylova, now expressed her incomprehension about the war.
A singer who should have represented Russia in Turin had not yet been announced.
An internal selection of candidates was planned.
Ukraine, on the other hand, held a public preliminary vote.
But its winner, Alina Pash, resigned as a candidate on February 16.
The background was open questions about a trip by the singer to the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia in 2015. After Pash's resignation, Ukraine is now sending the band Kalush Orchestra entitled "Stefania" to Turin.
feb/dpa/AFP
