A nationalist politician prompted anger in the Ukraine after making racist remarks about a singer of African origin who will represent the country at this year’s Eurovision song contest.

“The show’s millions of viewers will see Ukraine represented by someone who does not belong to our race, and they will think Ukraine is located somewhere in Africa,” Yury Sirotnyuk of the Svoboda (Freedom) party told local media.

Last Saturday a vote by a professional jury and television viewers selected 32-year-old pop singer Gaitana and her song Be My Guest as Ukraine’s entry to the annual pop extravaganza to be held in May in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Born in Kiev to a Congolese father and a Ukrainian mother, she lived in the Republic of Congo as a young child before moving to Ukraine, where she became a famous singer.

An opposition party led by WBC heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko slammed the comments by Mr Sirotnyuk, a senior official in a nationalist party that does not have any parliamentary seats.

“This deplorable instance of xenophobia is not consistent with Ukraine’s European aspirations,” he said. “It deserves severe public condemnation”.

Meanwhile Ukraine’s state television called on the Svoboda party to apologise.

“Racism undermines the authority of our country,” the First National Channel, which screens the contest, said in a statement.

In a report released on Tuesday, the European Commis-sion against Racism and Intolerance has urged Ukraine to step up its efforts to fight racial discrimination.