11-year-old singer Maria Sviyazova has won music awards in Ukraine and abroad. Now she is performing in Moscow. What is known about her family and the path to the Russian stage

11-year-old Maria Sviyazova is originally from Odesa. Her mother Olha Velyka is from Odesa, and her father Kostyantyn Sviyazov is from the Primorsky Krai of Russia. Maria has been studying music since she was 2 years old, and her main mentor is her mother.

Olha Velyka taught vocals and piano in Odesa for over 10 years, and also wrote music and lyrics, including for her daughterʼs songs.

Maria began performing in vocal competitions as a child and over the years she has taken part in dozens of competitions in Ukraine and abroad. Among her most notable results are the Grand Prix of the international childrenʼs song festival “United Kids Festival” in Alicante in 2024, first place at the “Performist Fest” in Istanbul in the same year, as well as the Grand Prix of the “Talented Country” competition and the highest award of the “Ukraine Unites” competition in 2025.

In Ukraine, the next notable stage of her career was the National Selection for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025. Maria made it to the final, but later dropped out due to "family circumstances".

At the same time, Maria established ties with Ukrainian show business. In 2024, she performed at a charity concert of the “IvAlive Foundation” in Switzerland. The founder of the foundation Ivanna Onufriychuk and Tymur Myroshnychenko were the hosts of the event, and the main headliner was Jamala.

After winning the “United Kids Festival” in Spain, Maria received an original song from composer Ruslan Kvinta. And during the National Selection for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025, she worked with Svitlana Tarabarova, who was the music producer of the competition.

In 2026, fans of Junior Eurovision were waiting for Maria to return to the National Selection. However, her name did not appear in the final list of participants.

Instead, at the end of August, videos from Moscow appeared on the girlʼs pages. They show that Maria is in the Russian "KRB Talent Academy".

Later, it became known that she took part in the all-Russian competition "The Star of Russia" and received two main awards at once.

Maria Sviyazova at the "KRB Talent Academy" in Moscow.

Скриншот / TikTok / maria.sviiazova

Скриншот / TikTok / maria.sviiazova

On August 29, a video explanation by Maria’s mother Olha Velyka appeared on Maria’s YouTube channel. She stated that at some point in Ukraine, “the doors” to all non-commercial projects were closed to her daughter, and Maria herself became “unnecessary”.

According to Velyka, even in the National Selection for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, preference was allegedly given to those who chose “serving the new political system”.

Maria Sviyazova in Moscow shortly before the Great War

According to familiar families, Olha Velyka began to “teach” her daughter to music while she was still pregnant. Then, until the very birth, she taught at the music school of her future godmother Alla Litvyak.

After Maria was born, her mother continued to develop her daughter’s musical abilities. From the age of 2, the girl grew up in a musical atmosphere. From the age of 3, Olha began taking her to various competitions and shows. So gradually the hobby turned into a kind of race. From an early age, Maria performed almost non-stop not only in Ukraine, but also abroad.

The year 2021 was the first notable episode in the ambiguous history of Maria Sviyazova. Then the six-year-old girl came to Moscow with her mother. It was not just a tourist trip — Maria became a participant in the Russian television talent show “The Best of All!”, which aired on “Channel One”.

In the program, children demonstrated their unusual abilities, and the main presenter at that time was Maksym Halkin.

Maria performed as a young pianist. In the episode, she talked about her passion for music, said that she wanted to become a great musician, and played a fragment from Tchaikovskyʼs ballet “Swan Lake” on the piano.

After filming, Maria and her mother returned to Odesa. A few months later, Russia began a major war.

What is known about Mariaʼs father — Kostyantyn Sviyazov

Mariaʼs father — Kostyantyn Sviyazov — is originally from the Primorsky Krai in Russia, but has lived in Odesa since he was young. His main hobby is fishing, which he tried to teach his daughter.

However, Maria chose music. At least since 2018, Kostyantyn has lived separately from his family. He went abroad to work.

Babel was unable to confirm exactly where he worked in the following years. However, his social media left a few clues. In 2018-2019, Kostyantyn lived in Kazakhstan. He presumably worked at the local sturgeon complex “Caspian Royal Fish” LLC in the city of Atyrau.

In 2018, he appeared in a Kazakh television story as a fish farmer at this enterprise, which was headed by Altynai Sugralieva (a professor originally from Astrakhan, Russia).

The last time Kostyantyn Sviyazov was in Ukraine was in the winter of 2021. In the spring of 2022, after the start of the Great War, Kostyantyn began publishing photos and videos from the Netherlands. At that time, he was there with his daughter and wife, who had left Ukraine. It is also unknown where exactly he worked in the EU.

At the same time, judging by his publications, his professional activities remained related to sturgeon farming. In a photo from 2023, he can be seen wearing merchandise from the Dutch black caviar brand “ANNA Dutch”. In others, he is next to the famous German sturgeon specialist Peter Gross. In 2025, Sviyazov also began publishing products from the “American Marshallberg Farm”, a farm in North Carolina that grows Russian sturgeon and produces “Osetra” caviar.

Babelʼs interlocutors among the parents of children who participated in the National Selection for Children with Maria said that at that time there were rumors among the parents about the possible involvement of Kostyantyn Sviyazov in the sale of caviar in Russia. The interlocutors did not specify where exactly these rumors spread. Babel was unable to find confirmation of this information.

Kostyantynʼs views are evident in his social media. If you look at his posts from at least 2014, you can see his attitude to the events in Ukraine: praising the USSR, misunderstanding the Revolution of Dignity.

Konstyantyn considers the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) to be his church. After the start of the full-scale war, Kostyantyn published posts about how to evacuate from Odesa, quoted Lenin, and in May 2022, he was nostalgic for his native Primorsky Krai.

In the following years, he continued to publish posts with nostalgia for Russia. In 2026, Kostyantyn published many videos about forced mobilization in Ukraine.

During the war years, Kostyantyn traveled a lot. He visited the USA, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, the Netherlands, and Italy. On May 9, 2026, Kostyantyn published a photo from the “Victory March” in Chisinau, dedicated to the 81st anniversary of the victory in World War II. His trip in Moldova lasted about a month and a half.

Already in early July, he published videos that made it possible to establish that he was in Moscow: the footage shows the Great Cathedral of the Donskoy Monastery and the Church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Mariaʼs career after returning to Odesa

At the beginning of the Great War, Olha left Ukraine with her daughter. Judging by posts on social media, they lived in the Netherlands with their whole family for a while.

In 2023, Maria returned to Odesa with her mother. Since then, against the backdrop of a full-scale war, she has been building an international career and regularly performing abroad — everywhere accompanied by Olha Velyka.

Babel tried to find out more about how her mother worked with other children. Most of the parents of former students refused to comment. Those we managed to talk to remember Olha as a professional teacher and mentor.

At the same time, they say that she chose mainly Russian-language songs and works by Russian composers for the children. However, the interlocutors add that “itʼs not unusual for Odesa”.

In May 2026, Maria took part in the “All Arts” international correspondence art competition. On the competition website, she is listed among the participants in two categories at once — “Vocal Art” and “Performing Art”. In both categories, her mother Olha Velyka is listed as her teacher.

“All Arts” is a Moldovan competition, legally registered in Chisinau. Its director and head of the jury is Evgenia Bolotova. Bolotova is directly connected to the Russian state cultural system. She runs the “Harmony” vocal studio at the Russian House in Chisinau and is also the director of “All Arts”.

The official channel of the “Russian House” calls it a representative office of “Rossotrudnichestvo”. This is a Russian federal agency subordinate to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which promotes the Russian language, culture, and humanitarian ties abroad through the Russian Houses network.

There are connections with Russian state structures among the jury members as well. Viktor Kostetsky is listed on the “All Arts” website as the curator of educational projects of the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Moldova, i.e. “Russian House”.

Olga Skorbyashchenskaya teaches at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory. Ilya Ustyantsev teaches at the same conservatory and the State Palace of Student Youth. Evgenia Yakovenko is the head of the St. Petersburg Youth House under the city government. Alexander Shakhov is a soloist at the State Mikhailovsky Theater. Anastasia Sadovnyk teaches at the Pskov Music School.

Childrenʼs National Selection and Covering Up

In 2025, Maria Sviyazova applied to participate in the National Selection for Junior Eurovision. Firstly, she went to the Star School, and then to the final. However, according to the rules of the Public, an artist cannot represent Ukraine if he performed in Russia after 2014. In 2021, Maria starred in the Russian TV show “The Best of All!”.

In a video from August 29, which Olha Velyka published on her daughter’s YouTube channel after moving, she told how the family applied for the National Selection. According to her, “when applying for the children’s National Selection, they were prepared for rejection”, because the application indicated that Maria was filming a Russian TV show. Despite this, the girl was accepted.

“When Maria made it to the finals, the editors of Suspilne contacted me and — at the request of other parents — issued an ultimatum: either you withdraw from the competition (due to family circumstances) on your own will, or the reason of your disqualification will be reported to the whole country,” Olha said.

She also stated that after this story, all non-commercial projects were closed to Maria, since the main criterion for selecting participants — in her opinion — is "serving the new political system".

Suspilne commented this story to Babel. They admit that at the stage of initial processing of the questionnaires, information about Mariaʼs performances in Russia was not taken into account. In particular, due to a technical failure in the consolidated document.

"This is our mistake," the company noted.

According to Suspilne, Mariaʼs performances in Russia became known after the "Star School" was held. Then, company representatives informed Olha that her daughterʼs participation did not comply with the rules of the National Selection.

The Point of Family Now

Babel tried to contact Olha Velyka through her social media. We sent her a friend request on Facebook, which she confirmed. However, after we asked her for comment, Olha blocked us. Now all her pages are closed. Before the blocking, we managed to read one of her posts, in which she explains in more detail the reasons for leaving for Russia.

In this post, Olha explained her departure by saying that she no longer wants to watch how — in her words — “her own citizens are hunted like animals” by the same people, but “with privileges, in uniform”.

She also claims that civilians in Ukraine are used as “human shields”, and then, on the base of their suffering, donations are collected “for the defense of the state”, which are distributed “into the right pockets”.

Olha wrote about children in Ukraine, saying that they are being used to normalize war and violence, forced to abandon their language, culture, and past, and because of the continuation of the war, they are being deprived of their right to education.

Olha separately explained why they did not stay in Europe. The reason is simple — her values do not coincide with what — in her opinion — European society imposes.

The Sviyazov family is currently studying Moscow and Russian art. Olha Velykaʼs Insta-stories include photos with Maria from the Moscow State Art Gallery of Peopleʼs Artist of the USSR Alexander Shilov.

Kostyantyn Sviyazov is also posting videos from Moscow. In one of them, St. Andrewʼs Bridge is in the center of the frame.