Russia Banned From Eurovision 2022 For Ukraine Invasion
Organizers of the Eurovision Music Contest reversed course on Friday, saying that Russia would now not be permitted to carry out on this 12 months’s occasion.
“The choice displays concern that, in mild of the unprecedented disaster in Ukraine, the inclusion of a Russian entry on this 12 months’s Contest would carry the competitors into disrepute,” the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) mentioned in a statement.
The choice to punish Russia culturally for invading Ukraine comes a day after the identical group had mentioned Moscow could be allowed to ship an act to seem on the subsequent Eurovision, scheduled to be held in Turin, Italy, in Could.
Ukraine’s public broadcasting firm had requested for Russia to be suspended from the favored contest, which is watched by almost 200 million people annually.
However the EBU, which has organized the competition since 1956, had insisted Eurovision was “a non-political cultural occasion.”
In response, a lot of different European nations had indicated they’d not take part on this 12 months’s occasion except Russia was banned.
Russia was but to formally announce an act for this 12 months’s competitors. For the reason that assault on Ukraine, 1000’s of Russians have braved the danger of being arrested to protest in opposition to their authorities’s lethal invasion.
