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Swiss bank freezes Ukraine’s 15 million-euro guarantee for hosting Eurovision

KIEV, June 22. /TASS/. A Swiss bank has frozen Ukraine’s 15 million-euro guarantee for hosting the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, UA:PBC (Ukraine’s National Public Broadcasting Company), the contest’s Ukrainian organizer, said in a statement.

"The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) informed Ukraine’s National Public Broadcasting Company that the Geneva Debt Collection Office had frozen the money. However, in its message to the EBU, the Office did not clarify the reasons for the freeze," the statement reads.

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Ukraine’s capital of Kiev hosted the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest on May 9-13. The contest involved as many as 42 countries. 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. Following the ban, Russia’s Channel One cancelled the broadcast of the contest.

On May 4, Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group Chairman Frank-Dieter Freiling said that sanctions could be introduced against Ukraine and Russia for breaching contest rules. According to him, Kiev should have ensured the participation of all the entrants but violated this obligation by banning Samoilova to enter Ukraine, while the Russian delegation failed to attend various compulsory meetings held early in the year.

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