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“НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ЛЮТИЙ 2014 WWW. UNWLA.ORG 9 forget her look, her eyes. They had so much depth and wisdom! No... it is still hard, still hurts. She was a special person in my life and will always r e- main such.” Perhaps as a tribute to her gran d- mother, Ruslana and her husband Alexander Ksenofontov are restoring the Pid horetsky Castle not far from L’ viv. Her mother, a stalwart, loyal, and loving figure to this day in Ruslana’s life (she has not missed a performance by her daughter), encouraged her passion for Ukrainian music. As a Ukrainian singer, Ruslana was deeply dis turbed by the fact that in Ukraine, Ukrainian music was ignored, disregarded, even looked down upon. She longed for a change in this negative att i- tude of her fellow countrymen toward Ukrainian music and Ukrainian culture in general: “I do not know who will start to change this situation, and when Ukraine will finally become Ukrainian.” It seems that her talent and fate intervened to answer this question. Ruslana entered and won the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Wild Dances.” She introduced Uk raine to Europe and actively continues to do so to this day. Follo w- ing her victory, which brought her worldwide fame, Ruslana set off on a big European tour. During this surge in popularity, she received a World Music Award in Las Vegas. Simultaneously she was awarded the title of People's Artist of Ukraine. In the fall of 200 4 , soon after she returned from the tour, Ruslanа actively supported the democratic processes in Ukraine known as the O r- ange Revolution, to which her song “Dance with the Wolves” was dedicated. She became one of the prominent figures that addressed the mass crowds rallying in support of Yushchenko's demand that his original defeat in the Ukrainian presidential election be declared fraudulent. Without a doubt, Ruslana was at the peak of fame in 2004 - 2005, and became a symbol of her country. During this time, she gave some great concerts donating the profits to charitable causes. After the Orange Revolution her popularity reached such heights that almost inevitably, she was drawn into pol itics. In 2006, she was elected to parliament from the presidential party “Our Ukraine.” During her tenure in parliament she quickly realized that politics were not for her. B e- ing a very forthright and responsible person, she could not take part in the in trigues of politics. To this day she does not like to talk about her short - lived political career. Her main focus has always been to create a positive image of Ukraine in the world. She knew that as a highly regarded celebr i- ty in the world, she could dra w positive attention to Ukraine. She did not need a political mandate to carry out this mission. In the spring of 2007, Peter Maffay, le g- endary German rock star, initiated a concert tour of Germany to raise funds to address social issues of the world. Rusl ana, along with 14 other artists from all continents, took part in this event. From this tour Ruslana raised over $100,000, which she donated to the L’viv Hospital for pediatric resusc i- tation. That same year, she took part in the Vienna Forum on Human Traf ficking and presented her single on this social issue, “Not for Sale,” officially recognized by the UN as the anthem of the event. Ruslana was appointed Goodwill Ambassador of Ukraine to UNICEF. After large regions in Western Ukraine were hit by a flood in July of 2008, Ruslana set up a coordinating and relief cent е r in the Carpathian Mountains, “Flood. SOS! 2008.” The aim of the center was to create a database of the people in need, to provide emergency human i- tarian aid, and to collect and distribute donations from Ukrainian celebrities and the general public. Inte restingly, the UNWLA has been i n- volved with and has donated to that very same hospital in L’viv as well as the flood victims in the Carpathians. The UNWLA has also participated in the UN sessions in New York on human trafficking. Ruslana endorsed Yulia Ty moshenko du r- ing the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election and actively supported this candidate during the ele c- tion campaign. In December of 2012, Ruslana launched the human rights campaign “Don't keep silent” ( «Не мовчи» ), which challenged the juridical sy s- tem of Ukraine. She came to the defense of Dmytro and Sergiy Pavlichenko who, according to her, are victims of a misjudgment. They claim to have been forced to admit a murder which they did not co m- mit. The fat her and son were convicted of killing a judge of a district court in Kyiv and sentenced to life imprisonment and 13 years in prison respe c- tively. Ruslana dedicated her song and video “This is Euphoria” ( « Це – Ей - форі - Я » ) to the case of the Pavlichenkos. W ith her history as a Ukrainian for Ukraine and a social activist , it is no surprise that in November of 2013 she became one of the lea d- ing figures in the protests on the Euromaidan. Even though Ruslana does not wish to be a profe s- sional politician, the sin ger is still politically active and supports the peaceful actions of the protesters. From the second week of these protests at the Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square), Ruslana has been on stage virtually all night — every night. “If needed, I will sin g every night on the Maidan until the next presidential election in 2015,” she announced. Ruslana describes herself as “a charging maiden with freedom - loving energy.”
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