Kiev demands to have back its frozen 15 mln euro Eurovision guarantee

Ukraine will take effort to have back its 15 million euro guarantee for hosting the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest that was frozen by a Swiss bank, Zurab Alasania, CEO of UA:PBC (Ukraine’s National Public Broadcasting Company), said on Monday.

“They must return our money and we will take effort to have it back,” Ukrainskaya Pravda quoted him as saying.

According to Alasania, a Swiss law firm is tackling this issue.

On June 22, Ukraine’s National Public Broadcasting Company said it had been notified by that the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) that the Geneva Debt Collection Office had initiated attachment proceedings of a sum of 15 million euro Ukraine had offered as a guarantee for hosting the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest. Neither reasons for the freeze nor the initiator of the proceedings were cited. The EBU has been unavailable for official comment.

Ukraine’s capital city of Kiev hosted the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest on May 9 through 13. As many as 42 countries took part in the contest. However, Russian contestant Yulia Samoilova could not participate as the Ukrainian Security Council (SBU) had issued a three-year travel ban against her, citing her performance in Crimea on June 27, 2015 as a reason. Following the ban, Russia’s Channel One cancelled the broadcast of the contest. The EBU promised to look at possible sanctions against Ukraine over this situation.

Salvador Sobral, who represented Portugal, won the 62nd Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev. The 27-year-old singer performed a song called Amar Pelos Dois (of Love for Two), written by his sister.