She once won the Eurovision Song Contest. Now she is on Russia’s wanted list
Russia has added a popular Ukrainian singer, who won the Eurovision Song Contest seven years ago, to its wanted list, as Moscow expands efforts to target cultural figures who have been critical of the invasion of Ukraine.
The singer, known professionally as Jamala, appeared in the wanted database of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs under the name Susana A. Dzhamaladinova. Her name appeared to have been added to the list in October, but was published in Russian media on Monday.
The list did not specify the allegations against her, but according to to Zona Media, a Russian news website, Jamala, 40, is accused by authorities of spreading false information about the activities of the Russian military.
The action is likely to have little more than a symbolic impact for the singer, who lives in Ukraine. Jamala, who is currently in Australia, responded to the news by posting a photo of herself in front of the Sydney Opera House on Instagram with a face-palm emoji on it.
The Ukrainian singer is of Crimean Tatar descent and was a prominent advocate for the Tatar people who originally lived on the Crimean Peninsula but were deported in large numbers when the region was still part of the Soviet Union. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 after a popular uprising ousted a Russia-leaning president in the Ukrainian capital Kiev.
Jamala won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2016 with a song dedicated to Crimean Tatars who were deported in the 1940s after being accused of collaborating with Nazi Germany. Her ancestors were deported to Central Asia, where she was born.
“Wherever I am, the first priority for me is to remember that foreigners came to my home to kill and maim lives, to destroy and rewrite my culture,” Jamala said. told President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in November 2022. “It happened in 1944, and then in 2014, and now again,” she said. “Now everyone in Ukraine understands that this could happen to anyone if the evil is not stopped and brought to justice for crime.”
Ukraine has used its Crimean Tatar heritage to counter Russian cultural domination of the region, which became part of the Russian Empire after its conquest in the 18th century. In 1954, the peninsula within the Soviet Union was transferred from Russian to Ukrainian authority.
The targeting of Jamala appears to be part of a campaign by Moscow to silence activists who refuse to accept rule of Crimea and who oppose the war against Ukraine – both inside Russia and abroad.
According to Izvestia, a Russian newspaper, there had been more than thirty Ukrainian artists forbidden will no longer enter Russia from April 2022.
At least a dozen popular Russian artists who publicly condemned the invasion of Ukraine were declared “foreign agents,” a term that stigmatized them as people on the payroll of foreign governments. Many other artists were not allowed to perform in the country.
Russia has also stepped up efforts to create its own popular music market after being effectively locked out of the European market – including the Eurovision Contest – following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Last week, Olga B. Lyubimova, Russia’s culture minister, announced the creation of the country’s own popular song competition, called Intervision, according to Interfax, a Russian news agency. It will share its name with the Soviet-era communist equivalent of the Eurovision Song Contest.