(Newswire.net — March 16, 2017) — The inferno of the war between Russia and Ukraine may cause sparks at the Eurovision song contest, which is to be held in May. After Ukraine won last year’s Eurovision song contest with a politically charged song, Russian PM has called for a boycott of the competition. However, Julia Samoylova was chosen after all, to represent the Russian Federation in the race for the best song at a contest that traditionally promotes peace, love, and tolerance.
Russia fumed last year after western countries supported Ukraine as a political statement and not because of the quality of the song. This time, however, things are getting out of control with open threats to the Russian contester.
Julia Samoylova won Russian hearts as a brave handicapped singer, who debuted in the Russian version of the X-Factor. She lost the ability to walk as a child as a result of unsuccessful poliomyelitis vaccination. Samoylova has a degree in psychology, but she pursued her ambitions to become a singer. After the X-Factor, she performed at the opening ceremony of the 2014 Paralympics Games in Sochi.
The Security Service of Ukraine announced that they might bar Samoylova from entering the country on the grounds that she illegally toured Crimea. Others asked authorities to let her in, only to have her arrested, the Telegraph UK reports.
Why is Crimea so important to Ukrainians? Actually, it is not, but it is far more important to NATO, and even more so to Russia.
The Crimean Peninsula, later Crimea, was conquered by dozens of nations in its history. In 1783, Crimea was annexed by the Russian Empire, and has been considered as a part of Russia ever since. After the Bolshevik revolution and the end of Romanoff family in 1917, Crimea gained certain autonomy within SSSR and became a major Soviet Naval military base.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, Ukraine remained in a close relationship with Russia, and was given the control of the Crimean Peninsula within Ukraine state boundaries, but with a certain degree of autonomy, given that it is mainly populated by Russians. It remained as one of the largest Russian military outposts, while also being a home to the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
Crimea’s main city, Sevastopol, was forbidden for visits during the Soviet era, which meant that any non-residents had to apply to the authorities for a temporary permit to visit the city. On July 10, 1993, the Russian parliament passed a resolution declaring Sevastopol to be “a federal Russian city”. Residents of Crimea are mainly Russians, not Ukrainian. Therefore, the peninsula is of great importance, not only to the inhabitants who don’t want to live in Ukraine under the new anti-Russian regime, but also as a matter of Russia’s national security.
If one needs to understand the strategic importance of Crimea to Russia, just think what would happen if a new Hawaiian government decided to surrender the entire island to Russians, along with the U.S. military base at Pearl Harbor.
Arresting the Russian singer, Julia Samoylova, for performing at Crimea has only one goal, to provoke Russia to react and justify the military and financial support, given to produce the reason for weakening Russia with the imposed sanctions.