After negotiations between the broadcaster UA:PBC and Vidbir 2019 winner MARUV, the parties did not come to an agreement and therefore the contract was not signed. This means Ukraine’s representative for Eurovision 2019 has not been confirmed yet and the negotiations with the next candidate will start tomorrow morning.

“The national final was held honestly but it revealed a major social problem”

On a Facebook post, the CEO of UA:PBC Zurab Alasania opens up about the contract given to MARUV and all the performers of the national final Vidbir.

He first addressed that he believes that the national final was held honestly. However, according to him, the selection revealed another major social problem: the concert activity of many artists in the aggressor country.

According to Alasania, to resolve “this painful issue”, the broadcaster has written in the conditions for all the participants that they need to refuse to perform in Russia three months after the competition.

Next to this he states that the performer should have “attentive attitude towards the public statements regarding the territorial integrity of Ukraine, or any statements that may harm Ukraine at the international level”. He adds that “not all good Ukrainian performers are ready to be good cultural diplomats”.

MARUV’s response

Last night MARUV posted a statement on her social media that she is willing to cancel her performances in Russia. She also stated that she hasn’t violated any Ukrainian laws and hasn’t visited Crimea since 2014.

Update: MARUV has posted her response about the situation on her Facebook page. As stated earlier, the refusal of concerts in Russia was not a matter of principle for her.

The main differences were caused by other clauses of the agreement, which, if I sign, will enslave me. I am a citizen of Ukraine, pay taxes and sincerely love Ukraine. But I’m not ready to come up with slogans, turning my stay at the contest into promotion of our politicians. MARUV

Who is the next candidate?

In his post Zurab Alasania states that after the parties didn’t come to an agreement, the broadcaster can’t confirm the representative of Ukraine yet. He says that the negotiations with the next candidate start tomorrow morning.

It’s still unclear who this next candidate is. It could be Freedom Jazz, who finished second in the national final. KAZKA, who finished second in the televote, could also be a potential choice, if the broadcaster wants to please the audience.

Who would you like to see representing Ukraine in Tel Aviv? Let us know on social media @ESCXTRA!