Ukraine, host nation for the 2017 Eurovision song contest, has banned the Russian entrant from entering the country, citing an unauthorised visit to Crimea.

The country’s SBU security service said on Wednesday it had banned Yulia Samoilova from Ukraine for three years for her violations of Ukrainian legislation.

The singer took part in a 2015 concert in Crimea to promote sport, the year after the peninsula was annexed by Russia. The 27-year-old, who has been a wheelchair user since childhood, had previously sung at the opening of the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi.

This is the second year running in which Eurovision has been plagued with Crimea-linked controversy, after a song by a Crimean entrant won last year’s event for Ukraine and it gave it hosting rights for the 2017 contest.(the guardian)…[+]