OSCE Aware of Ukraine’s Entry Ban to Russian Reporter, Abstains From Comment

Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media knows about the incident with a photojournalist of the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency, Ramil Sitdikov, who was denied entry to Ukraine despite being accredited for the Eurovision Song Contest, but will abstain from comments on the issue, the Office said to Sputnik.

VIENNA (Sputnik) — On Saturday, Sitdikov was banned from entering Ukraine on the grounds of allegedly not being able to confirm the reasons for entering the country, despite having previously received accreditation for the Eurovision Song Contest.

"The Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media is aware about the issue. During the on-going process of the OSCE Participating States appointing a new Representative, The Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media continues to function in certain ways, including monitoring of media freedom developments. However, since the fourth Representative on Freedom of the Media is currently in the process of being appointed, the mandate does not allow for any public statement to be made at this point," the Office said.

On Sunday, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, said that even those Russian journalists who were accredited for the contest would not be allowed to enter Ukraine if they previously visited Crimea.

In April, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) officially confirmed that Russia would not participate in Eurovision 2017, which started on May 7 and is scheduled to last through May 11, because it did not agree to the proposed alternatives after Ukraine's refusal to let Yulia Samoilova from Russia take part in the contest. Samoilova was banned from entering Ukraine for three years because of her visit to Crimea in 2015 without a permit from Kiev. According to the country’s law, Ukraine may ban entry for any foreigners who had visited post-referendum Crimea without a permit from Kiev.

In March 2014, Crimea held a referendum on reunification with Russia, with the 97 percent of the Crimean population supporting the decision. Ukraine and the western countries refuse to recognize the results of the referendum and consider Crimea a part of Ukraine.