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Russian vocalist unfazed by Kiev regime’s ban still believes in her Eurovision dream

"I keep training, and I still believe the things will change," Russia’s Eurovision contestant Yulia Samoilova said

© Maria Antipina/TASS

MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/. Russia’s Eurovision contestant Yulia Samoilova believes the situation surrounding her ban to Ukraine, the host country of the 2017 Eurovision song contest, may still change.

"It is very funny to watch all this (Kiev’s ban) from the outside, because I don’t understand what is it so special that they saw in me. They saw some threat in me, such a small girl. Generally speaking, I am not worried," the wheelchair-bound singer told Channel One television on Wednesday.

"I keep training, and I still believe the things will change," she stated.

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News broke on Wednesday that Ukraine’s intelligence agency, the SBU, had banned Yulia Samoilova from the country for three years.

The SBU claims that having performed in Crimea in the summer of 2015, Samoilova violated some Ukrainian government “resolution” obliging foreign nationals to obtain “permits to visit” the Black Sea peninsula.

Commenting on this decision, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that thus the Ukrainian leadership had demonstrated its weakness and it true colors toward European values.

Ukraine will play host to the Eurovision song contest in May. Singers from 43 countries are due to compete in the glitzy show. Semifinals will be held in Kiev on May 9 and 11 while the Grand Final will take place on May 13.

Yulia Samoilova was born on April 7, 1989 in the city of Ukhta (the Republic of Komi). In 2013, she was second in Factor X competition. She also performed in the opening ceremony of the 2014 Sochi Winter Paralympic Games. Yulia has been bound to a wheelchair since her childhood.

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