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Ukrainian politicians recommend fines for performers touring Russia

The National Broadcasting Council also said it would make sense to restrict the time given to these performers on Ukrainian TV and radio

KIEV, January 11. /TASS/. Ukraine’s National Broadcasting Council has come up with a proposal to impose fines or criminal responsibility on the Ukrainian performers who go on concert tours to Russia, the council said in a statement on Thursday.

"The National Council recommends introduction of the world practice of influence on the performers who make performing tours to a country recognized as an aggressor," council chairman Yuri Artemenko said in a comment on the document. He added that the sanctions might come in the form of penalties or criminal liability.

Artemenko also said it would make sense to restrict the time given to these performers on Ukrainian TV channels and radio stations.

He noted along with it the absence of any levers, which the National Council could possibly use to influence the broadcasting organizations, since legislation did not contain any provisions on it.

Last summer, deputies of the Verkhovna Rada national parliament representing the nationalistic Svoboda [Freedom] party drafted a bill prohibiting concert tours of Russia by Ukrainian performers but the Ukrainian parliament, Verkhovna Rada, did not put it up for discussion.

Somewhat earlier, the Ukrainian authorities banned entry of the country for 140 Russian actors, musicians and entertainers, and at the end of November 2017 it enacted a law regulating the concert tours by Russian performers.

Prior to each tour, it organizers should file a query with Ukraine’s SBU state security service, which is expected to consider it within ten days and then take a decision on whether a performer in question can appear in Ukraine.

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