The Ministry of Culture of Ukraine demanded that the word “war” be used at Eurovision 2023

Minister of Culture of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko, during negotiations with the organizers of the popular Eurovision 2023 music contest, asked that the word “war” be heard from the stage. About this on Tuesday, March 28, he informed in his Telegram channel.

Recall that in 2022, the first place in the Eurovision Song Contest, held in Turin, Italy, was taken by the Ukrainian group Kalush Orchestra with the composition “Stefania”. This gave Ukraine the right to host the competition in 2023 on its territory. The President of the country Volodymyr Zelensky announced such readiness. There were even talks that the event would be held in Mariupol, which was not yet part of Russia. However, in June, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), pointing out the need for security, decided to host Eurovision 2023 in Britain, whose group in Turin took second place. At the same time, it was reported that the representative of Ukraine in 2023, as compensation, will immediately go to the final of the music show. Liverpool was chosen as the venue for the song contest. . “A hospitable city with a rich musical heritage, Liverpool will put on an unforgettable show,” former British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who still held this post last summer, commented on this news on her Twitter account (blocked in the Russian Federation).

“For us, it is important that the word “war” be heard during Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool,” said Alexander Tkachenko, commenting on the results of his communication with the organizers of the song contest. “The whole world must understand why we cannot exercise our legal right to host Eurovision 2023 in Ukraine because of Russian aggression.”

It is curious that the word “Russia” in the original text of the Ukrainian Minister of Culture, who repeatedly called for the “abolition of our country” on the European continent and called Tchaikovsky’s music “Putin’s weapon”, is written with a small letter.

The music show Eurovision 2023 will be held in Liverpool from 9 to 13 May, as usual, in two stages. Russia was excluded from participation in this competition in 2022, Belarus – in 2021. Earlier, the media reported that such European countries as Bulgaria, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Andorra, Slovakia, Luxembourg and Monaco refused to participate in the qualifying rounds for financial reasons. The reduction in the number of participants results in an increase in the fee for the remaining countries.