Russia, after a long-lasting tension with Ukraine, announced that it officially declared war yesterday, and started military operations. This war, which led to the emergence of terrible images, resonated all over the world and managed to influence many different sectors.
Sports organizations such as the Champions League and Formula 1 announced that they stopped their events to be held in Russia. Now, a move has come from the music industry on the subject. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has announced that Russia has been excluded from the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, which will be held on 10-14 May.
‘Russia may damage the reputation of the competition’
First of all, in the statements made by the EBU officials yesterday, it was stated that Russia would not be prevented from participating in the organization. This statement, as you can imagine, drew reactions from many sides. Many European countries, including Norway, the Netherlands and Iceland, criticized this statement of the EBU. In fact, the Finnish government reacted harshly to this decision and announced that if Russia participated in Eurovision, it would not send contestants to the organization.
However, the European Broadcasting Union announced today that it preferred to take a step back on this issue and decided to remove the country from the giant music event. Expressing that the decision was reached by consulting the opinions of the EBU members, the officials noted that no Russian artist could participate in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Finally, in the written statements made by the EBU, it was stated that due to the ongoing ‘unprecedented’ crisis in Ukraine, Russia’s participation in this giant organization to be held in Italy in May may damage the reputation of the competition.
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