Lasha Tumbai, fake documents and a Russian woman on stage: 7 of the loudest scandals in the history of Ukraine's participation in Eurovision

Already on Tuesday, May 9, the first semi-final of the international song contest Eurovision will take place in Liverpool on behalf of Ukraine. It is expected that 15 countries will take to the stage, including the Czech group VESNA with a soloist from Russia. As you know, in 2023, the event will take place without the aggressor countries - Russia and Belarus. Therefore, a scandal broke out around the participation of the band.

Unfortunately, this is not the only unpleasant incident that happened to our country at Eurovision in 2023. OBOZREVATEL recalls the scandals related to Ukraine at the Song Contest, starting from far back in 2007 (scroll down to the end of the page to see the video).

Verka Serdyuchka - 2007

Ukrainian singer Andriy Danilko, performing as Verka Serdyuchka, went to Finland in 2007 to represent Ukraine with the composition "Dancing Lasha Tumbai". However, Russia and Channel One's general producer Konstantin Ernst heard the celebrity sing not "Lasha Tumbai," but "Russia goodbye," which means "Russia, goodbye." The occupant country then became very indignant and launched a propaganda campaign to harass Danilko. Andrei provided the lyrics of the song, but this act had no effect on the Russians' attitude toward the artist. In spite of this, Serdyuchka created a furor on stage and won silver.

Alyosha - 2010

Ukrainian singer Alyosha was accused of plagiarism at the National Selections. Her song "To be free" was compared to "Knock Me Out" by Linda Perry and Grace Slick. The singer was asked to change the song to "Sweet People," with which she placed tenth in the finals.

Maria Yaremchuk - 2014

Singer Maria Yaremchuk took part in the contest when war broke out in Ukraine. After the National Selection, producers Alyona Mozgova and Yuri Nikitin said that the girl won unfairly. In addition, the media began to claim - the artist will be sponsored by Rinat Akhmetov. But in the end, she still went to Denmark, where she took sixth place.

Maruv - 2019.

Maruv (real name - Anna Korsun) won by a wide margin at the National Selection. The traitor of Ukraine even before the events of 2022 actively performed in Russia, but then said she was ready to cancel her concert tour in the aggressor country. However, after that, the vocalist was stunned by the news - she refuses to participate in Eurovision. Now the girl lives abroad and has been silent about the war in her homeland for more than a year.

Alina Pash - 2022

The scandal with the flamboyant Alina Pash can be called one of the loudest at the song contest. The performer with the track "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" was supposed to go to Turin. But the audience was outraged by this choice, as they remembered the performance of the artist in the occupied Crimea and the photos against the background of the Kremlin. Pash provided a certificate from the border guards, allegedly proving that she did not come to the peninsula from the Russian Federation, but by bus from Ukraine. As it turned out, Alina's team forged the document, so she was disqualified.

VESNA - 2023

The lead singer of the Czech band VESNA, Olesya Ochepovskaya, is from Russia. She will perform on stage in Liverpool with a song titled "My sister's Crown" in English, Czech, Bulgarian, and even Ukrainian. Moreover, the band members shot a video about the quarrel between the Slavic nations. The vocalist's position on the full-scale invasion of her country is unknown for sure. But in her social networks, you can find photos with yellow and blue decorations and anti-war hashtags. However, it is worth noting that a few months ago, information appeared on the network that her brother Igor serves in the Russian army, as he posted a photo on the social network wearing a military uniform with the emblem of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. He later explained - the picture was taken at the dacha, and the outerwear was lent to him. In April, it became known that Ochepovskaya would not be able to perform at the contest, as she had not received an exit visa.

Ruslana - 2023

Ukrainian singer Ruslana won first place in Eurovision in 2004. The song "Wild Dance", which she performed then, is still iconic and one of the favorites of the world audience. This year, the organizers of the contest saw fit not to invite the artist to perform in the UK. Ruslana distributed a post on Instagram that she did not receive an invitation, but later "Suspilene" said - the performance of the Ukrainian is scheduled, only in the preliminary recording from Kyiv.

Earlier OBOZREVATEL wrote that the representatives of Ukraine at Eurovision-2023 group TVORCHI, which for many months was the favorite of bookmakers, a week before the grand final strongly gave up positions. Only 6% of Eurofans who placed their bets believe in the victory of Ukrainian musicians. Read our material to know more details.

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