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Updated / Monday, 3 Apr 2017 11:19

The never-ending saga between Ukraine and Russia over this year's Eurovision has taken a new twist, with the host country's future in the competition now in jeopardy after it banned the Russian singer from taking part.

It was all set to be null points for Russia this year after Ukrainian authorities banned their performer, 27-year old Yulia Samoylova from entering the country.

Tensions had been high between both countries after Russia's annexation of Crimea and its support for separatist rebels in the east of the country. Then to rub salt into the wound,Ukraine won last year's song contestwhile favourites Russia had to settle with just a third place finish.

A few weeks ago Ukraine slapped a travel ban on the Russian singer aftershe "contravened Ukrainian law by entering Crimea in order to perform" via Russia rather than the Ukrainian mainland back in 2015. Cynics say Russia knew this would happen and that's why she was chosen in the first place.

A compromise of sorts was offered by organisers,wherebyChannel One Russia was given the opportunity for Samoylova to perform live in the second semi-final via satellite.

If she progressed to the Grand Final then the same arrangement would be put in place. However the Russian broadcaster flatly rejected the offer.

"We find the offer of remote participation odd and refuse it, for it is going absolutely against the very essence of the event", it fumed in a statement.

Now the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) which produces the event has stepped into the row and has demandedthat Kyiv let Samoilova perform.If it doesn't, Ukraine faces the threat of exclusion from future contests, unless politics was left out of the singing contest.

In a letter to the hosts, the head of the EBU, Ingrid Deltenre, warned Ukraine that:

We consider the current ban of the Russian singer as unacceptable. As a consequence the UAPBC [Ukraine's National Public Broadcasting Company] might be excluded from future events."

We are increasingly frustrated, in fact angry, that this year's competition is being used as a tool in the ongoing confrontation between the Russian Federation and Ukraine

Samoylova is due to take part in the second-semi final on May 11alongside Ireland's Brendan Murray.

Russia has never failed to progress to the Grand Final so its participation could have a bearing on our own chances of reaching the final stages.

Stage invader and F-bomb as The Voice ends with a bang

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Eurovision face-off latest. Now UKRAINE could be barred - RTE - RTE.ie

Published on: April 4, 2017 | Last Updated: April 4, 2017 8:53 AM EDT

A Joint Task Force - Ukraine instructor provides guidance and safety support to a Ukrainian soldier during section attack practice as part of small team training, at the International Peacekeeping and Security Centre in Starychi, Ukraine on March 3, 2017. Photo: Joint Task Force - Ukraine AK51-2017-019-002

Canada and Ukraine are further strengthening their ties. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and Ukrainian Defence Minister Stepan Poltorak have signed what is being called the Canada-Ukraine Defence Cooperation Arrangement.

The bilateral arrangement identifies areas of mutual cooperation such as defence policy; defence research, development, and production; and military education, according to the Department of National Defence.

This week, Defence Minister Poltorak will meet Members of Parliament and Senators, and tour Canadian Forces facilities such as Garrison Petawawa.

Canada has provided a broad range of assistance (development, financial, humanitarian, non-lethal military) to Ukraine, totaling more than $700 million since early 2014, according to the Canadian government. Since September 2015, more than 3200 Ukrainian Armed Forces members have been trained by the Canadian military.

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Ukrainian defence minister to visit Petawawa Canada, Ukraine sign agreement - Ottawa Citizen

2017-04-04T13:12+02:00 13:12 04.04.2017

Members of the Supervisory Board of PJSC National Public TV and Radio Company of Ukraine have made a public statement in response to the letter of the Director General of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Ingrid Deltenre to the Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman.

"Having visited Crimea without the permission of the Ukrainian authorities, Yulia Samoilova violated the sovereignty and laws of Ukraine. Except for the Russian Federation, no other country, which public broadcasters are members of the European Broadcasting Union, has any grounds to dispute such qualification of the actions committed by Yulia Samoilova, since no European country recognizes the belonging of Crimea to the Russian Federation," a statement of the National Public TV and Radio Company of Ukraine, published on the website of the UA: Pershy TV channel, says.

Members of the Supervisory Board of the National Public TV and Radio Company of Ukraine emphasize that they share the fundamental values of a democratic Europe, but they can not alienate the interests of Ukrainian society when the country defends its territorial integrity. "We consider the threats to punish PJSC National Public TV and Radio Company for the actions of the Ukrainian state related to the reaction in response of the violation of its laws, contradictory to the basic democratic values, as well as the position of the European Union and the world community in assessing the current Ukrainian-Russian confrontation," the National Public TV and Radio Company of Ukraine says.

"We call on Ms. Ingrid Deltenre, and in her person the European Broadcasting Union to respect the sovereignty of Ukraine, not to turn the European Broadcasting Union into an instrument of strengthening foreign political manipulation and not to prevent such statements from normal and full-fledged holding of the competition this year and in the future," the members of the Supervisory Board said.

As earlier reported, the Oikotimes media reported about a letter of EBU Director General Ingrid Deltenre. In her letter, she said that if the situation with participation of Russian contestant Samoilova is not resolved, it will jeopardize Ukraine's further involvement in the contest. In her letter to Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, Deltenre calls on him to interfere with the situation surrounding Samoilova's entry ban and make it possible for her to come to Kyiv in May.

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Supervisory Board members of National Public TV and Radio Company of Ukraine call on EBU to respect sovereignty ... - Interfax

Enough is enough. Massimiliano Allegri has hit his limit with the constant negativity around Juventus, from fans, media, the whole lot. If Juve win, it wasnt pretty enough. If Juve draw then its a sign of impending doom. And God forbid if Juve lose then its surely the end of the universe as we know it.

During his pre-match press conference as the Bianconeri head back to Naples to take on Napoli tomorrow in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final protecting a 3-1 lead, Allegri was less than his usual reserved self.

First of all were in a good period, because with a month-and-a-half to go were playing for the final of the Coppa Italia, for the chance to go to the Champions League Semi-Finals and were currently still first in the Scudetto race.

So right now theres nothing more we could do. Then theres this negativity, this negative aura, its the one thing I hate. I think if we could see things positively it would be better.

I think this team has played a few finals over the past few years, weve won a couple of Coppa Italia, weve won two Scudetti, then one draw and its like none of that happened.

At the end of the day, the important thing is to achieve your objectives. Its also true that you have opponents, and winning is difficult.

You say winning is the norm but no, winning is extraordinary because only one team can win. Besides, this is a team which in the past three years has been to a Champions League final, were playing for another Coppa Italia final, and were in the fight for the Scudetto.

Right now we couldnt do more, thats a fact, like it or not.

In the course of a season, just as in individual games, there are moments where you play well and moments where youre less good, the important thing is having a clear objective.

Its not easy to achieve, the lads are doing incredible things, because there are opponents, because to always win is impossible.

The team is growing in Italy, but above all on a European level and I think thats important. I think thats the best result, regardless of the Scudetti won.

Right now Juventus are a respected team, thats the most important thing.

Then I hear you say - and Ill finish with this - that Juventus have lost five finals, seven finals - how many have they lost? - seven.

If you turn that around, and say Juventus played nine finals, its different. Because others didnt play them. Then at the end of the games you win or you lose.

You can reverse things and see the positives, but here you only see the negative goddamnit. Thats not good. Buona giornata.

Luckily, Allegri had spoken in an earlier part of the press conference when he was less incensed, at which time he had talked about Mario Mandzukic being out and other team news.

Its difficult for Mandzukic to make it for the game. Well assess him today, but hes unlikely to be there. Paulo Dybala and Juan Cuadrado are available.

As for the rest I dont know what to tell you, because well train today and after that Ill work out who will play tomorrow.

Will he take a conservative approach to tomorrows game with Juve holding a lead?

First of all theyre two different games. Sunday was a League game and this is a knockout game.

We have this important objective, to reach the Coppa Italia final for the third year in a row, then go to Rome and try to win it.

It wont be easy, because tomorrows game will be very open. Napoli are a team who played well on Sunday from a technical point of view, they caused us problems but we have everything it takes to reach the final.

We need to be very different in technical terms to what we showed on Sunday, technically we got a lot wrong and that meant we couldnt develop the play and thats why we were more defensive.

We gave away two or three shots after wed cheaply given the ball away, so we definitely need to play a different game from that point of view.

If youre technically better youll have more of the ball, which means you have to defend less.

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Allegri lashes out at negativity surrounding Juventus' performances - Black & White & Read All Over

Even before her now-famous MSNBC comments explaining why "you have the leaking" on alleged ties between Trump officials and Russia, former defense official Evelyn Farkas had undertaken a media campaign to pressure her old colleagues in the Obama administration -- even Barack Obama himself -- to disclose what they knew.

Farkas, who left the administration in 2015 after serving as a deputy assistant secretary of defense, raised eyebrows in the March 2 interview on MSNBC when she said there had been a rush to share information before President Trump took office.

I was urging my former colleagues, and frankly speaking, the people on the Hill get as much information as you can, get as much intelligence as you can before President Obama leaves the administration, because I had a fear that, somehow, that information would disappear with the senior people who left, she said.

Thats why you have the leaking, because people were worried, she added.

RICE CLAIMED IGNORANCE ON TRUMP SURVEILLANCE

The interview came two days before Trump accused Obama of wire-tapping Trump Tower. While that allegation remains widely disputed, the White House jumped on Farkas remarks as proof that intelligence leaking had taken place in the Obama White House. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer called her remarks devastating.

'We need President Obama to share with the public the information the FBI has to date on this issue.'

- Evelyn Farkas, in Newsweek

But the MSNBC comments were hardly the only time Farkas encouraged the distribution of intelligence on Trump officials.

In aPoliticocolumn in December, Farkas voiced concern that the American public doesnt have access to the information the intel community has on connections between Russia and Trump.

The information needs to be made public, she wrote. If the answers yield further evidence that the president-elect is indebted to the Russian government or individuals with Kremlin ties, the intelligence community and policy officials should also begin disclosing what they know about whether Trump's associates have been in contact with Russian officials, and what they've been discussing.

She went on to warn that officials with answers to those questions and who could declassify that intel were to leave office when Trump took office.

Just days before Trump took office, Farkas went a step further in a piece forNewsweekand called for then-President Barack Obama to step in.

We need President Obama to share with the public the information the FBI has to date on this issue, and we need President-elect Trump to explain the full extent of his ties with the Kremlin and influential Russians, she wrote.

After the MSNBC appearance, Farkas spoke on March 20 with theBBCabout the existence of evidence showing Russian interference in the presidential campaign. Some of that, the proof is in very tightly held, classified channels, she said. And also the question of whether Trumps people were involved probably also would show up in those channels.

Farkas has not made her encouragement of such disclosures a secret. At the same time, she has stressed that she wasnt personally involved, and recently suggested her MSNBC comments were taken out of context -- saying she wouldnt specifically encourage leaking.

At the end of the interview I did start a new thought thats why they leaked, but got cut off. I would have explained that leaking is illegal and I would never condone it, but it seems that the people who were leaking to the New York Times might have also been concerned that the legislative branch was being left in the dark, she toldThe American Spectator.

But the totality of her articles and interview appearances makes clear that, in her view, high-level Obama officials had potentially damaging information on Trump-Russia ties.

The comments could draw added attention amid reporting by Fox News and other outlets that Susan Rice, former Obama national security adviser, requested to unmask the names of Trump transition officials caught up in surveillance.

The unmasked names, of people associated with Trump, were sent to all those at the National Security Council, some at the Defense Department, then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and then-CIA Director John Brennan essentially, the officials at the top, including former Rice deputy Ben Rhodes.

Fox News' Judson Berger contributed to this report.

Adam Shaw is a Politics Reporter and occasional Opinion writer for FoxNews.com. He can be reached here or on Twitter: @AdamShawNY.

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Obama officials pressured by Farkas for months to spill beans on Trump-Russia ties - Fox News