Translated material
The organizers of Eurovision 2017 in Ukraine announced their departure from the project
21 members of the team for the preparation of the Eurovision 2017 music contest, which will be held in Kyiv in May, announced their departure from the project.
Among the signatories of the statement are the deputy heads of the National Public Television and Radio Company of Ukraine (NOTU), the executive producers of the competition Oleksandr Kharebin and Viktoria Romanova.
As follows from the statement, their decision is connected with the actions of another deputy head of the NOTU, Pavel Gritsak, who became the project manager about two months ago.
“This appointment and the actions that accompanied it stopped work on the project for two months, the work of our team was completely blocked,” the statement said .
In a commentary to Ukrainska Pravda, Kharebin called “one of the impetuses” for the team’s departure “the adoption of the competition estimate, which was agreed by Pavel Hrytsak and grew by 50 percent from what it was in early December.”
Hrytsak himself told UNIAN that he did not know about the departure of any of those who are "engaged in the production part and the television show." He stated that he was invited as an "anti-crisis manager" and must "make certain decisions every day," including "some tough steps."
Kharebin noted that Hrytsak "does not make the necessary decisions, does not sign contracts, cancels tenders."
- Ukraine won the right to host Eurovision in 2017 after the singer Jamala won first place in this contest in 2016. The competition will be held in Kyiv for the second time - the first time it happened in 2005.
- In November 2016, the director of the National Television Company of Ukraine (later transformed into NOTU) Zurab Alasania left his post due to difficulties with financing the competition. In the fall, it was reported that there were delays in the preparation of the competition.