Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Russia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 22 times since their debut in 1994. Russia won the 2008 contest with Dima Bilan performing the song "Believe". One of the most successful countries in the contest in the 21st century with a total of ten top five placements, Russia finished second with Alsou in 2000, Dima Bilan in 2006, Buranovskiye Babushki in 2012 and Polina Gagarina in 2015; third with t.A.T.u. in 2003, Serebro in 2007, Sergey Lazarev in 2016 and 2019, and fifth with Dina Garipova in 2013. In 2018, they failed to qualify for the final for the first time in their history.

Russia
Member station
National selection events
Participation summary
Appearances22 (21 finals)
First appearance1994
Best result1st: 2008
External links
Channel One page
Russia-1 page
Russia's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see
Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021

Contest history

Their debut was in the 1994 contest after Russia became a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Russia came second at four contests; in 2000 with the song "Solo" performed by Alsou, in 2006 with Dima Bilan's song "Never Let You Go", in 2012 with the song "Party for Everybody" performed by Buranovskiye Babushki, and in 2015 with Polina Gagarina's song "A Million Voices". They also achieved four third-place finishes; in 2003 with t.A.T.u's song "Ne Ver', Ne Boysia", Serebro's in 2007 with their entry "Song #1", and in 2016 as well as 2019 with Sergey Lazarev's song "You Are the Only One" and "Scream" respectively.

Russia has failed to qualify for the Final on two occasions. In 1996, Russia's entry was Andrey Kosinsky with the song "Me is me", but he scored an insufficient number of points in a special qualifying round, while in 2018 Yulia Samoylova, who represented the country with the song "I Won't Break", failed to qualify from the televised second semi-final.

In 1998, because Russia did not participate in the contest (due to lower average scores in participating in previous competitions), Russia refused to broadcast the competition and the European Broadcasting Union in return forbade the country to participate the following year. According to unconfirmed information, Russia was required to submit Tatyana Ovsiyenko with the song "My Sun".

Russia won their first Eurovision Song Contest in 2008, when Dima Bilan, participating for the second time in the contest, won with the song "Believe", bringing the contest to Russia for 2009.

Russia was the most successful country in Eurovision in 2000–2009, with one win, two second places, and two third places. However, in 2010 they finished 11th, and in 2011 they were 16th, which was the worst place for Russia since 1995. Interest in the competition fell, but in 2012 Buranovskiye Babushki finished in second place, increasing Russia's interest in the show. Russia holds the record for the most top five finishes in the 21st century, with ten, with Sergey Lazarev holding the record of the highest score of any Russian contestant, who finished third in 2016 with 491 points.

In February 2019, Sergey Lazarev was once again confirmed as the Russian representative for Eurovision 2019 in Tel Aviv which makes Sergey the second return artist in Russian Eurovision participation history after Dima Bilan, who participated in 2006 and 2008 respectively. This time he represented his country with the song Scream, managed to bring Russia back to grand final for the first time since 2016 and achieved the 10th top 5 result by finishing third once again.

Incidental participation

Broadcast

The contest has been broadcast irregularly on two different public state channels in Russia, both EBU members: for the 1994 and 1996 it was broadcast on Russia-1 of VGTRK, while in 1995, 1997 and from 1999 to 2007 the contest was broadcast on Channel One. Since 2008, there is an alternation on broadcast and selection, with Russia-1 on even years, and Channel One on odd ones. This however temporarily changed after not broadcasting 2017 contest, when Channel One started to do the broadcast and selection on even years, while Russia-1 on odd ones. From 2021 onwards alternation in broadcast was put back again as prior to 2017, due to cancellation of 2020 contest.

Contestants

Table key
1
Winner
2
Second place
3
Third place
X
Entry selected but did not compete
Year Artist Language Title Final Points Semi Points
Youddiph Russian "Vechni stranik" (Вечный странник) 9 70 No semi-finals
Philipp Kirkorov Russian "Kolybelnaya dlya vulkana" (Колыбельная для вулкана) 17 17
Andrey Kosinsky Russian "Ya eto ya" (Я это я) Failed to qualify[lower-alpha 1] X 27 14
Alla Pugacheva Russian "Primadonna" (Примадонна) 15 33 No semi-finals
Alsou English "Solo" 2 155
Mumiy Troll English "Lady Alpine Blue" 12 37
Prime Minister English "Northern Girl" 10 55
t.A.T.u. Russian "Ne ver', ne boisia" (Не верь, не бойся) 3 164
Julia Savicheva English "Believe Me" 11 67 Top 11 previous year[lower-alpha 2]
Natalia Podolskaya English "Nobody Hurt No One" 15 57 Top 12 previous year[lower-alpha 2]
Dima Bilan English "Never Let You Go" 2 248 3 217
Serebro English "Song #1" 3 207 Top 10 previous year[lower-alpha 2]
Dima Bilan English "Believe" 1 272 3 135
Anastasia Prikhodko Russian, Ukrainian "Mamo" (Мамо) 11 91 Host country[lower-alpha 2]
Peter Nalitch and Friends English "Lost and Forgotten" 11 90 7 74
Alexey Vorobyov English, Russian "Get You" 16 77 9 64
Buranovskiye Babushki Udmurt, English "Party for Everybody" 2 259 1 152
Dina Garipova English "What If" 5 174 2 156
Tolmachevy Sisters English "Shine" 7 89 6 63
Polina Gagarina English "A Million Voices" 2 303 1 182
Sergey Lazarev English "You Are the Only One" 3 491 1 342
Julia Samoylova English "Flame Is Burning" Withdrawn[lower-alpha 3] X
Julia Samoylova English "I Won't Break" Failed to qualify 15 65
Sergey Lazarev English "Scream" 3 370 6 217
Little Big English, Spanish "Uno" Contest cancelled[lower-alpha 4] X

Selection process

Year Selection process Channel Ref.
1994 National final with 9 participantsRTR
1995 Internal selectionORT
1996 National final with 14 participantsRTR
1997 Internal selectionORT
Did not participate between 1998 and 1999
2000 Internal selectionORT
2001
2002
2003 Channel 1
2004
2005 National final with 29 participants
2006 Internal selection
2007
2008 National final with 27 participantsRussia 1
2009 National final with 16 participantsChannel 1
2010 National final with 25 participantsRussia 1
2011 Internal selectionChannel 1
2012 National final with 25 participantsRussia 1
2013 Internal selectionChannel 1
2014 Russia 1
2015 Channel 1
2016 Russia 1
2017 Channel 1
2018
2019 Russia 1
2020 Channel 1
2021

Conductors

Year Conductor Notes Ref.
1994 Lev Zemlinski
1995 Mikhail Finberg
1997 Rutger Gunnarsson

Heads of delegation

Broadcaster Head of delegation
Channel One Yuri Aksyuta
RTR Ekaterina Orlova

Commentators and spokespersons

Year Commentator Channel Spokesperson Ref.
1992 UnknownRTRDid not participate
1993 Vadim Dolgachyov
1994 Sergei AntipovIrina Klenskaya
1995 No commentatorORTMarina Danielyan
1996 Vadim DolgachyovRTRDid not participate
1997 Philipp Kirkorov, Sergei AntipovORTArina Sharapova
1998 No broadcastDid not participate
1999 Aleksej Zhuravlev, Tatjana GodunovaORT
2000 Zhanna Agalakova
2001 Alexander Anatolievich, Konstantin MikhailovLarisa Verbickaya
2002 Yuri Aksyuta, Elena BatinovaArina Sharapova
2003 Channel 1 Yana Churikova
2004
2005
2006 Yuri Aksyuta, Tatjana Godunova
2007 Yuri Aksyuta, Elena Batinova
2008 Dmitry Guberniev, Olga ShelestRussia 1Oxana Fedorova
2009 Yana Churikova (all shows),
Aleksey Manuylov (semi-finals),
Philipp Kirkorov (final)
Channel 1Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė
2010 Dmitry Guberniev, Olga ShelestRussia 1Oxana Fedorova
2011 Yuri Aksyuta, Yana ChurikovaChannel 1Dima Bilan
2012 Dmitry Guberniev, Olga ShelestRussia 1Oxana Fedorova
2013 Yuri Aksyuta, Yana ChurikovaChannel 1Alsou
2014 Dmitry Guberniev, Olga ShelestRussia 1
2015 Yuri Aksyuta, Yana ChurikovaChannel 1Dmitry Shepelev
2016 Dmitry Guberniev, Ernest MatskyavichysRussia 1Nyusha
2017 No broadcastDid not participate
2018 Yuri Aksyuta, Yana ChurikovaChannel 1Alsou
2019 Dmitry Guberniev, Olga ShelestRussia 1Ivan Bessonov
2020 Yuri Aksyuta, Yana ChurikovaChannel 1Not announced before cancellation
2021 Channel 1

Hostings

Year Location Venue Presenters Ref.
2009 Moscow Olympic Indoor Arena Natalia Vodianova and Andrey Malahov (semi-finals)
Alsou and Ivan Urgant (final)

Awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Year Category Song Performer Final Points Host city Ref.
2016 Press Award "You Are the Only One" Sergey Lazarev 3 491 Stockholm

Barbara Dex Award

Year Performer Host city Ref.
2003 t.A.T.u. Riga

Photogallery

See also

Notes and references

Notes

  1. In 1996, Russia failed to qualify from the audio only pre-qualification round. The official Eurovision site does not count 1996 in Russia's total list of appearances.
  2. If a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in Semi Finals. In addition, from 2004 to 2007, the top 10 non-Big Four countries did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. For example, if Germany and France placed inside the top 10, the 11th and 12th spots were advanced to next year's grand final along with all countries in the top 10.
  3. Russia withdrew from the 2017 contest, after Julia Samoylova was banned from entering the host country Ukraine. The official Eurovision site does not count 2017 in Russia's total list of appearances.
  4. The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

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