The city of Turin in Italy is hosting the final of the 66th Eurovision Song Contest this Saturday evening. Twenty five countries are in the running and Russia is the big absentee since it was excluded by the organizers after the invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainians, on the other hand, are among the favorites to win this competition, which has become a sounding board for major international issues.
The confrontation between kyiv and Moscow is therefore also played out on the Eurovision field. The event should bring together some 200 million viewers tonight in around thirty countries. Russia was banned the day after its troops entered Ukraine at the end of February. A decision of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) which oversees the competition. Such a ban is unheard of since 1993 when Slobodan Milosevic’s Yugoslavia was deprived of this competition after UN sanctions linked to the war in the Balkans.
But to come back to the music itself and according to the predictions of bettors, Ukraine has a good chance of winning with the Kalush Orchestra and a song – written before the war – which is a mixture of rap and traditional music.
Other favourites, the United Kingdom and Sweden. As for France, represented by the Breton group Alvan and Ahez, it would rank according to these same forecasts in 17th place with a song interpreted entirely in the Breton language.
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