(MENAFN) Svetlana Loboda, a Ukrainian pop artist, has been designated persona non grata in Lithuania, with the country's cultural minister urging venues and organizers to refuse her a platform. Despite frequently opposing Russia's military intervention in Ukraine, the former Eurovision contestant was placed to the blacklist.
"After consultations with our Ukrainian partners, we are listing the performer as persona non grata," a representative for Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis informed the BNS news service on Thursday.
Loboda, a Ukrainian national living in Latvia, cannot be barred from entering Lithuania, according to Lithuanian Culture Minister Simonas Kairis. Instead, she will be added to a list of "unwanted individuals," and concert promoters will be urged – or pushed – to cancel a series of scheduled appearances.
Anyone using Loboda is "at risk" and it may lose "their investments," according to Kairis, who adds that "the state will always be on the right side."
Loboda's past attitude on Russia, according to Kairis, "causes risk," presumably to the Lithuanian state.
Loboda is fluent in Russian and has performed widely in the country over the course of her three-decade career. She did, however, represent Ukraine in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest and has given a series of very critical interviews since fleeing to Latvia at the start of Russia's military incursion in Ukraine in February.
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