On the day it was confirmed that Ruslana would not host this year's Eurovision Song Contest, Spiegel Online published an interview with the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest winner. “Many youngsters used to go abroad because the Ukrainian state had nothing to offer them. But today people my age see their future in their own country. They are sure that the change in government will bear fruit”, she said.
The interview with Ruslana particulary focusses on the political issues Ukraine faced and still faces. She openly speaks about social problems, the relation between Ukraine and Russia and her hunger strike during the Orange Revolution; “I felt that I needed a hands-on approach. Words were not enough. When I stood on the Independence Square with Vladimir Klitchko in front of hundreds of thousands of people, the state-controlled media did not broadcast it at first. The hunger strike added to the attention of the foreign media who covered the events unfolding in Kiev more and more. This increased the pressure on the stations controlled by Kuchma”, Ruslana explained.
Those who are interested in reading the complete interview with Ruslana, conducted by Alexander Schwabe, can read it here.
