Members of the Supervisory Board of PJSC National Public TV and Radio Company of Ukraine have made a public statement in response to the letter of the Director General of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Ingrid Deltenre to the Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman.

"Having visited Crimea without the permission of the Ukrainian authorities, Yulia Samoilova violated the sovereignty and laws of Ukraine. Except for the Russian Federation, no other country, which public broadcasters are members of the European Broadcasting Union, has any grounds to dispute such qualification of the actions committed by Yulia Samoilova, since no European country recognizes the belonging of Crimea to the Russian Federation," a statement of the National Public TV and Radio Company of Ukraine, published on the website of the UA: Pershy TV channel, says.

Members of the Supervisory Board of the National Public TV and Radio Company of Ukraine emphasize that they share the fundamental values of a democratic Europe, but they can not alienate the interests of Ukrainian society when the country defends its territorial integrity. "We consider the threats to punish PJSC National Public TV and Radio Company for the actions of the Ukrainian state related to the reaction in response of the violation of its laws, contradictory to the basic democratic values, as well as the position of the European Union and the world community in assessing the current Ukrainian-Russian confrontation," the National Public TV and Radio Company of Ukraine says.

"We call on Ms. Ingrid Deltenre, and in her person the European Broadcasting Union to respect the sovereignty of Ukraine, not to turn the European Broadcasting Union into an instrument of strengthening foreign political manipulation and not to prevent such statements from normal and full-fledged holding of the competition this year and in the future," the members of the Supervisory Board said.

As earlier reported, the Oikotimes media reported about a letter of EBU Director General Ingrid Deltenre. In her letter, she said that if the situation with participation of Russian contestant Samoilova is not resolved, it will jeopardize Ukraine's further involvement in the contest. In her letter to Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, Deltenre calls on him to interfere with the situation surrounding Samoilova's entry ban and make it possible for her to come to Kyiv in May.