Singer Lolita Milyavskaya will file a lawsuit against Ukrainian authorities to the European Court of Human Rights. The conflict between Lolita Milyavskaya and the Security Service of Ukraine began after the singer wasn’t allowed to enter Ukraine to see her sick daughter. They took her off the train and sent back to Moscow under escort. Olga Meshcheryakova reports the singer's story about how it was and about her family's persecution in Ukraine.





Lolita is barely holding back her tears. Her child is there, in Kiev, with a cold and fever, and waiting for her mother. Lolita knows that in the early morning the girl was counting minutes, squeezing the phone in her hand, because her mother was about to call from the train station. Of course, she wants mom to come and to show compassion. No matter how old you are. And I want my mother to show compassion with me too. They took me off the train at 4 a.m., and I can’t visit my child who is sick.

At 4 a.m. Ukrainian border guards enter the compartment. They present a paper. Get your things! This is how early in the morning Lolita Milyavskaya found herself on the platform of the station of the Ukrainian city of Konotop, and in a few minutes, under escort, like a criminal, she was sent back. Here I have the Decision of the State Border of Ukraine issued to a foreigner or a person without citizenship. I am such a person.

Lolita wasn’t allowed to enter the country where she was born and grew up. And where her mother and daughter were waiting for her that morning. I said: "Mom, you know, don’t worry, there's this situation, they sent me back". I said this very gently, and she began to cry like a little child, cry and cry.

Exclusion for three years. Just because in 2015 Lolita performed at a charity concert in Crimea. ...and the rules of access to the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine and egress from it established by the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers. This is absolutely illegal, because regardless of whether Milyavskaya is a Russian citizen or not... The Russian citizen wasn’t allowed to enter because she is simply unfavorable.

Next year, her child graduates from a school in Kiev, her favorite school, where her mother sent her to study 10 years ago, not knowing that she would become a person banned from entry by the Cabinet of Ministers. The worst thing, I don’t even want to imagine this, is that if my family suddenly needs help, God forbid, if they have health problems, I won’t be allowed to enter either. This is monstrosity, real human ugliness, and, believe me, when people treat other people's parents like that, I’m 100% sure that their parents spend the end of their lives somewhere in a nursing home.