Russia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 23 times from its debut in to . Russia won the contest with Dima Bilan performing the song "Believe". In , the country failed to qualify for the final for the first and the only time in its history. The Russian entry was chosen through both internal selections and a televised national final titled Evrovidenie.
Following their exclusion from the due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, on 26 February 2022, the Russian broadcasters RTR and Channel One announced that they would suspend their membership in the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The EBU made the suspension effective on 26 May 2022, preventing Russia from participating in further Eurovision events unless its membership is resumed.
Contest history Russia debuted in the contest after becoming a member of the EBU. The country had previously considered to debut at the Eurovision Song Contest in , but the planned entry failed to materialize.
Russia won their first and so far only 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 came second at four contests; in with the song "Solo" performed by Alsou, in with Dima Bilan's song "Never Let You Go", in with the song "Party for Everybody" performed by Buranovskiye Babushki, and in with Polina Gagarina's song "A Million Voices". They also achieved four third-place finishes; in with t.A.T.u's song "Ne ver', ne boysia", Serebro in with their entry "Song #1", and in as well as with Sergey Lazarev's entries "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 "Ya eto ya", 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 intended to send Tatyana Ovsienko with the song "Solntse moyo" (My Sun), which turned out to be a false rumour as the song was officially released in mid-1997 on Tatyana's album "Za Rozovym morem". Tatyana herself, during an interview, said that she did not go to Eurovision because she was "Either afraid or not very sure, besides, I knew that there were stronger guys and girls, and I thought that I would still have time [to go to Eurovision]."
Russia was the most successful country in Eurovision between 2000 and 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 placing 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. Sergey Lazarev holds 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 the 2019 contest, becoming the second returning artist in Russia's Eurovision history after Dima Bilan, who participated in 2006 and 2008 respectively. This time he represented his country with the song "Scream", with which he brought Russia back to the final for the first time since 2016 and achieved the country's 10th top 5 result, by finishing third once again.
For the 2021 contest, Russia opted to return to a national selection, after Little Big declined to return following their intended participation in the later-cancelled 2020 contest with "Uno". "Russian Woman" performed by Manizha emerged as the winner of the selection, which then went on to finish in 9th place in the final.
Russia had originally planned to participate in the contest, but was excluded from participating by the EBU due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. In response, the Russian broadcasters VGTRK and Channel One announced their intention to suspend their membership in the EBU. The suspension was made effective by the EBU on 26 May, preventing Russia from participating in further Eurovision events unless its membership is resumed.
Broadcast The contest was broadcast irregularly on two different public state channels in Russia, both EBU members: in 1994 and 1996 it was broadcast on Russia-1 of RTR, while in 1995, 1997 and from 1999 to 2007, the contest was broadcast on Channel One. From 2008, there was an alternation on broadcast and selection duties, with Russia-1 on even years, and Channel One on odd years. This alternation was disrupted when Russia withdrew from the 2017 contest, after which Channel One assumed broadcast and selection duties in 2018, 2020 and 2021, and Russia-1 in 2019.
Participation overview + Table key 1 First place 2 Second place 3 Third place ◇ Entry selected but did not compete
Year Artist Song Language Final Points Semi Points Youddiph "" Russian 9 70 rowspan="2" colspan="2" Philipp Kirkorov "" Russian 17 17 Andrey Kosinsky ◇ "" ◇ Russian ◇ colspan="2" 26 14 Alla Pugacheva "" Russian 15 33 rowspan="5" colspan="2" Alsou "Solo" English 2 155 "Lady Alpine Blue" English 12 37 Prime Minister "Northern Girl" English 10 55 t.A.T.u. "" Russian 3 164 Julia Savicheva "Believe Me" English 11 67 colspan="2" Natalia Podolskaya "Nobody Hurt No One" English 15 57 colspan="2" Dima Bilan "Never Let You Go" English 2 248 3 217 "Song #1" English 3 207 colspan="2" Dima Bilan "Believe" English 1 272 3 135 Anastasia Prikhodko "" Russian, Ukrainian 11 91 colspan="2" Peter Nalitch and Friends "Lost and Forgotten" English 11 90 7 74 Alexey Vorobyov "Get You" English, Russian 16 77 9 64 "Party for Everybody" Udmurt, English 2 259 1 152 Dina Garipova "What If" English 5 174 2 156 Tolmachevy Sisters "Shine" English 7 89 6 63 Polina Gagarina "A Million Voices" English 2 303 1 182 Sergey Lazarev "You Are the Only One" English 3 491 1 342 Julia Samoylova ◇ "Flame Is Burning" ◇ English ◇ colspan="4" Julia Samoylova "I Won't Break" English colspan="2" 15 65 Sergey Lazarev "Scream" English 3 370 6 217 Little Big ◇ "" ◇ English, Spanish ◇ colspan="4" Manizha "Russian Woman" Russian, English 9 204 3 225
Related involvement Conductors YearConductorNotes Lev Zemlinski Mikhail Finberg Rutger Gunnarsson
Heads of delegation BroadcasterYear(s)Head of delegationRef.Channel One2000–2003Elena Arkhipova2004–2021Yuri AksyutaRTR2008–2019Ekaterina OrlovaArchived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine:
Commentators and spokespersons
The contest was also aired on radio stations and alternative channels, including , commentated by Olesya Trifonova, in 1995. From 2008 until their suspension, Channel One and Russia-1 switched roles to broadcast the contest.
Year Channel Commentator Spokesperson Programme Onerowspan="3"rowspan="8" Grigory Shestakovrowspan="2"RTRrowspan="2"Irina KlenskayaORTOlesya TrifonovaMarina Danielyancolspan="2" ORTPhilipp Kirkorov, Sergey AntipovArina Sharapovacolspan="2" rowspan="3" ORT Olga Maksimova and Kolya MacCleod Jewish Channel ORT Tatyana Godunova, Aleksey ZhuravlevZhanna Agalakova, Larisa Verbitskaya, Arina SharapovaChannel OneYana ChurikovaChannel One (Final)Channel OneYuri Aksyuta, Tatyana GodunovaYuri Aksyuta, Yelena BatinovaTelekanal Rossiya, Dmitry Guberniev, Oxana FedorovaChannel OneYana Churikova (All shows) Aleksey Manuylov (Semi-finals) Philipp Kirkorov (Final)Ingeborga DapkūnaitėRussia-1Dmitry Guberniev, Olga ShelestOxana FedorovaChannel OneYuri Aksyuta, Yana ChurikovaDima BilanRussia-1Dmitry Guberniev, Olga ShelestOxana FedorovaChannel OneYuri Aksyuta, Yana ChurikovaAlsou Russia-1Dmitry Guberniev, Olga ShelestChannel OneYuri Aksyuta, Yana ChurikovaDmitry ShepelevRussia-1, Russia HDDmitry Guberniev, Ernest MackevičiusNyushacolspan="2" Channel OneYuri Aksyuta, Yana ChurikovaAlsouRussia 1, Russia HDDmitry Guberniev, Olga ShelestIvan Bessonov colspan="3" Channel OneYuri Aksyuta, Yana ChurikovaPolina Gagarina–colspan="2"
Costume designers YearCostume designersPavel KaplevichMaria GrachvogelValentin Yudashkin
Viewing figures Year Region(s) Share Rating Ref. 1997 All of Russia 53.8% 2001 All of Russia 31.1% 5.5% 2004 All of Russia 51.6% 16.1% 2005 All of Russia 40.2% 11% 2007 All of Russia 53.6% 17% 2008 All of Russia 47% 8.4% 2009 All of Russia 64.2% 17.6% 2010 Rest of Russia 37.2% Moscow 46.5% 2011 Rest of Russia 33% 5.4% Moscow 35.5% 8% 2012 All of Russia 47.7% 12.1% 2013 All of Russia 32.5% 6% 2014 All of Russia 31.5% 5.2% 2015 All of Russia 31.6% 6.8% 2016 All of Russia 37% 6.8% 2018 All of Russia 11.6% 2.2% 2019 All of Russia 28.2% 4.6% 2020 All of Russia 11.7% 3% 2021 All of Russia 23.1% 3.8%
Hostings
YearLocationVenuePresentersMoscowOlympic Indoor ArenaNatalia Vodianova and Andrey Malahov Alsou and Ivan Urgant
Awards Marcel Bezençon Awards
YearCategorySongPerformerFinalPointsHost cityPress Award"You Are the Only One"Sergey Lazarev3491 Stockholm
Barbara Dex Award
YearPerformerHost cityt.A.T.u. Riga
Photo gallery
See also
Russia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest – Junior version of the Eurovision Song Contest. Russia in the Intervision Song Contest – A competition formerly organized by the International Radio and Television Organisation (OIRT) from 1965 to 1980, and revived in 2025. Russia–Ukraine relations in the Eurovision Song Contest – Relations between the two countries in the Junior and Senior Eurovision Song Contests.
Notes and references Notes
References