The Eurovision Song Contest’s executive supervisor has said Russia’s exclusion “was and still is” hard but that the event should stand for “the basic and ultimate values of democracy”. Russia was banned from competing in 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine.
Its national broadcasters subsequently suspended their memberships of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organises the show, preventing them from taking part in future contests.
Speaking to Abba’s Bjorn Ulvaeus on BBC Radio 4’s Today, where the chart-topping Swede was serving as guest editor, Martin Osterdahl was asked if the decision to exclude Russia had been a “hard” one. He said: “It was, and it still is. How Europe feels very much affects the contest.
