The Ukrainian winner of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest has been placed on Russia‘s wanted list, according to local reports.
Independent Russian news website Mediazona, which has frequently reported news of the list, said yesterday that the Ministry of Internal Affairs has banned Jamala, whose real name is Susana Jamaladinova.
Jamala is alleged to have spread fake news about the Russian army. According to the report, she was arrested in absentia by a Russian court earlier this month. The BBC reported that she has left Ukraine since the invasion and is now in Australia.
Jamala is of Crimean Tatar descent and won the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest with a song about Joseph Stalin’s deportation of her people, titled ‘1944’. She has since been a judge on Vidbir, the Ukrainian national selection for Eurovision, and is an outspoken critic of the Russian annexation of Crimea.
Jamala is the second Ukrainian winner in recent years. Rap group Kalush Orchestra followed in her footsteps last year and the subsequent Eurovision had to be hosted in the UK due to the ongoing war.
Russia has placed vast swathes of people on its wanted list since the start of the war in February 2022, and has banned dozens from entering the country.
