Savchenko is freed

At last! Ukrainian officer Nadiya Savchenko was freed by Russian authority and came back to Ukraine! Having been captured in Luhansk region in Ukraine and illegally transported to Russia in June of 2014, Savchenko was also unlawfully imprisoned almost two years in Russian jails and was sentenced to 22 years in jail by Russian court. On 25^th May 2016 President of Russian Federation Vladimir Putin signed decree of pardon of Nadiya Savchenko and explained his decision with the pardon request of the relatives of one of two Russian journalists, with whose murder she had been charged (though N. Savchenko had been captivated 1 hour and a half before the time of the death of these journalists).

And also on 25^th May 2016 it was published the pardon of President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko for Russian soldiers Alexander Aleksandrov and Yevgeniy Yerofeyev, who had been arrested in Luhansk region by Service of Security of Ukraine in May of 2015 and had been as an obvious example of Russian army’s presence in Donbas region of Ukraine. Having been sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment for terroristic activity in Ukraine, they were set free and flew to Moscow on the plane after their pardon. On the same day Nadiya Savchenko arrived in Kyiv, so it looked like the exchange of soldiers between two countries which are in military conflict.

People's deputy of Batkivshchyna political party in High Council of Ukraine and the member of Ukrainian permanent delegation in Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Nadiya Savchenko held a press conference after her return to Ukraine on 27^th May 2016, answering the questions of journalists. And on 31^st May 2016 she came in Ukrainian parliament at first in the life and opened parliamentary sitting like people’s deputy. Making speech, N. Savchenko thanked all Ukrainians and all people around the world for supporting her and sang Ukrainian state anthem after speech. Then she took off poster “Freedom for Savchenko” from parliament’s rostrum and instead of it hung another poster “Freedom for prisoners of Kreml” with painted faces of several dozens Ukrainian political prisoners and said that Ukrainian people’s deputies hadn’t right not to free them.

Because many other Ukrainian citizens are staying in Russian jails nowadays, being politically persecuted. For example, Oleh Sentsov, Oleksandr Kolchenko, Hennadiy Afanasyev, Oleksiy Chyrniy, Valentyn Vyhovskyy, Oleksandr Kostenko, Yuriy Ilchenko, citizens of Ukraine and settlers of Crimean peninsula, who were arrested by Russian police in the Crimea in 2014-2015 after Russian occupation of Ukrainian Autonomous Republic of Crimea in spring of 2014. There were different reasons of their arrests and they were jailed, because current state power of Russian Federation considers Crimean land Russian territory and correspondently considers these persons Russian citizens, so judges them according to Russian legislation. So here are not just criminal deals and political persecutions against some people, but there are also the problem of the Crimea and various opinions of Ukrainian and Russian authorities on the question of whose territory is this peninsula.

Necessary refusal of Ukraine from "Eurovision-2017"

Last “Eurovision” probably was the most scandalous show in the history of this song contest because of its results in the final. But I shall not estimate the songs of “Eurovision-2016” participants here, every human has own musical preferences and I never dispute about it. There is other worry – how Ukrainian statesmen can hold next “Eurovision” in Ukraine, if many huge problems wait to be solved in the state. Money is the first and the largest reason to refuse from holding of “Eurovision-2017”, because every country must finance the organization of that musical festival, if it takes place in some of its cities. When Ukrainian authority get diverse credits from the whole world to stabilize Ukrainian economy, broken with devaluation of Ukrainian Hryvnia and bankruptcy of numerous Ukrainian banks during last two years, how can international festival be financed from state treasury or local budgets of Ukraine? And what is very important that so-called anti terroristic operation is continuing in Donbas region, where Ukrainian fighters defend Ukrainian territory against pro-Russian separatists and Russian army. Besides it, Ukrainian injured warriors of the ATO often need expensive treatment, so if Ukrainian statesmen may find the rest of cash in Ukraine’s state budget, then they must spend that cash for needful ATO participants instead of preparing to “Eurovision”. Moreover, one Ukrainian region – the Crimea – was occupied by Russian state power in spring of 2014, so in political sense it’s impossible to denominate Ukraine well quiet location to welcome foreign guests of “Eurovision” song contest. To the purpose, parents and grandfather of “Eurovision-2016” winner Jamala, to whom she dedicated her song “1944”, live on the Crimean peninsula nowadays, rejecting to move in another Ukrainian region.
And, to be honestly, politics (not music!) dominated from the beginning of Ukrainian national choice to “Eurovision-2016” and the victory of “1944” until representing of Ukraine in Stockholm and proclamation the winner of this year song contest. Thus, very lyrical song “Never Again” of Ukrainian singer Svitlana Tarabarova, who had sung about current war on the East of Ukraine and deaths of Ukrainian soldiers and about the necessity of stopping this war, was rejected by jury Ukrainian national choice because jury explained song had been sad and Europeans hadn’t needed Ukrainian pain. And then the same members of jury announced Jamala’s song about deportation of Crimean Tartars from the Crimea to Central Asia in 1944 as representative of Ukraine in “Eurovision-2016”...But massive deportations of Ukrainians were started in 1944 too: thousands Ukrainians were transferred by force from Kholmshchyna, Nadsyannya, Lemkivshchyna, Pidlyashshya (ethnic Ukrainian lands in present Poland) to Soviet Union by Polish and Soviet communistic statesmen during 1944-1947 years and thousands Ukrainians were transferred also by force from Western Ukraine to Siberia by Soviet state power in 1944-1952 and the quantity of deported Ukrainians in that periods is much more than the number of deported Crimean Tartars, whose deportation of 1944 is known in the world thanks to Jamala’s song now. And though Jamala is half-Crimean Tartar half-Armenian, as she told in many Ukrainian interviews earlier, but she never says about Armenian genocide in Ottoman Empire in 1915. So it’s clear that politics was everywhere in the case of “1944” song. And it’s a pity such famous song contest became political battle between Ukraine and Russia, which indeed have difficult relationships because of the Crimea and Donbas. That’s why one more cause for Ukraine to deny from the organizing of “Eurovision” next year – to avoid unnecessary politicization and rumours in the future and to help this song contest to be really musical show without any political implication. And, I guess, transfer of “Eurovision-2017” to runner-up winner of “Eurovision-2016” – to Australia – would be optimal decision not only because of problems in Ukraine, mentioned in the first indent of this article, but such step would stop Ukrainian-Russian contradictions in Eurovision and would satisfy many music fans, discontented with the results of this year song contest. For sure, if Australia will agree to hold “Eurovision-2017”.