# Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Russia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 23 times from its debut in 1994 to 2021. Russia won the 2008 contest with Dima Bilan performing the song "Believe". In 2018, the country failed to qualify for the final for the first time in its history. The Russian entry was chosen through both internal selections and a televised national final titled Evrovidenie.
Following its exclusion from the 2022 contest due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, on 26 February 2022, the Russian broadcasters VGTRK and Channel One announced that they would suspend their membership in the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The EBU made effective the suspension on 26 May, preventing Russia from participating in further Eurovision events unless its membership is resumed.

## Contest history

Russia debuted in the 1994 contest after becoming a member of the 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 in 2007 with their entry "Song #1", and in 2016 as well as 2019 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 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 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 2022 contest, but was excluded from participating by the EBU due to the 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 has been broadcast irregularly on two different public state channels in Russia, both EBU members: in 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 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

| Year | Artist | Song | Language | Final | Points | Semi | Points |
| 1994 | Youddiph | "Vechny strannik" (Вечный странник) | Russian | 9 | 70 | No semi-finals | No semi-finals |
| 1995 | Philipp Kirkorov | "Kolybelnaya dlya vulkana" (Колыбельная для вулкана) | Russian | 17 | 17 | No semi-finals | No semi-finals |
| 1996 | Andrey Kosinsky | "Ya eto ya" (Я это я) | Russian | Failed to qualify X | Failed to qualify X | 26 | 14 |
| 1997 | Alla Pugacheva | "Primadonna" (Примадонна) | Russian | 15 | 33 | No semi-finals | No semi-finals |
| 2000 | Alsou | "Solo" | English | 2 | 155 | No semi-finals | No semi-finals |
| 2001 | Mumiy Troll | "Lady Alpine Blue" | English | 12 | 37 | No semi-finals | No semi-finals |
| 2002 | Prime Minister | "Northern Girl" | English | 10 | 55 | No semi-finals | No semi-finals |
| 2003 | t.A.T.u. | "Ne ver', ne boysia" (Не верь, не бойся) | Russian | 3 | 164 | No semi-finals | No semi-finals |
| 2004 | Julia Savicheva | "Believe Me" | English | 11 | 67 | Top 11 in 2003 contest | Top 11 in 2003 contest |
| 2005 | Natalia Podolskaya | "Nobody Hurt No One" | English | 15 | 57 | Top 12 in 2004 final | Top 12 in 2004 final |
| 2006 | Dima Bilan | "Never Let You Go" | English | 2 | 248 | 3 | 217 |
| 2007 | Serebro | "Song #1" | English | 3 | 207 | Top 10 in 2006 final | Top 10 in 2006 final |
| 2008 | Dima Bilan | "Believe" | English | 1 | 272 | 3 | 135 |
| 2009 | Anastasia Prikhodko | "Mamo" (Мамо) | Russian, Ukrainian | 11 | 91 | Host country | Host country |
| 2010 | Peter Nalitch and Friends | "Lost and Forgotten" | English | 11 | 90 | 7 | 74 |
| 2011 | Alexey Vorobyov | "Get You" | English, Russian | 16 | 77 | 9 | 64 |
| 2012 | Buranovskiye Babushki | "Party for Everybody" | Udmurt, English | 2 | 259 | 1 | 152 |
| 2013 | Dina Garipova | "What If" | English | 5 | 174 | 2 | 156 |
| 2014 | Tolmachevy Sisters | "Shine" | English | 7 | 89 | 6 | 63 |
| 2015 | Polina Gagarina | "A Million Voices" | English | 2 | 303 | 1 | 182 |
| 2016 | Sergey Lazarev | "You Are the Only One" | English | 3 | 491 | 1 | 342 |
| 2017 | Julia Samoylova | "Flame Is Burning" | English | Withdrawn X | Withdrawn X | Withdrawn X | Withdrawn X |
| 2018 | Julia Samoylova | "I Won't Break" | English | Failed to qualify | Failed to qualify | 15 | 65 |
| 2019 | Sergey Lazarev | "Scream" | English | 3 | 370 | 6 | 217 |
| 2020 | Little Big | "Uno" | English, Spanish | Contest cancelled X | Contest cancelled X | Contest cancelled X | Contest cancelled X |
| 2021 | Manizha | "Russian Woman" | Russian, English | 9 | 204 | 3 | 225 |

## Related involvement
### Conductors

| Year | Conductor |
| 1994 | Lev Zemlinski |
| 1995 | Mikhail Finberg |
| 1997 | Rutger Gunnarsson |

### Heads of delegation

| Broadcaster | Year(s) | Head of delegation |
| Channel One | ???–2003 | Elena Arkhipova |
| Channel One | 2004–2021 | Yuri Aksyuta |
| RTR | 2008–2019 | Ekaterina Orlova |

### Commentators and spokespersons

The contest was also aired on radio stations and alternative channels, including Radio 101 [ru], 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 |
| 1992 | RTR | Unknown | Did not participate |
| 1993 | RTR | Unknown | Did not participate |
| 1994 | RTR | Sergey Antipov [ru] | Irina Klenskaya |
| 1995 | ORT | No commentator | Marina Danielyan |
| 1996 | Unknown | Unknown | Did not participate |
| 1997 | ORT | Philipp Kirkorov, Sergey Antipov | Arina Sharapova |
| 1998 | Unknown | Unknown | Did not participate |
| 1999 | ORT | Olga Maksimova and Kolya MacCleod | Did not participate |
| 1999 | Jewish Channel | Unknown | Did not participate |
| 2000 | ORT | Tatyana Godunova, Aleksey Zhuravlev | Zhanna Agalakova |
| 2001 | ORT | Alexander Anatolyevich [ru], Konstantin Mikhailov [ru] | Larisa Verbitskaya |
| 2002 | ORT | Yuriy Aksyuta [ru], Yelena Batinova [ru] | Arina Sharapova |
| 2003 | Channel One | Yuriy Aksyuta [ru], Yelena Batinova [ru] | Yana Churikova |
| 2004 | Channel One (Final) | Yuriy Aksyuta [ru], Yelena Batinova [ru] | Yana Churikova |
| 2005 | Channel One | Yuriy Aksyuta [ru], Yelena Batinova [ru] | Yana Churikova |
| 2006 | Channel One | Yuri Aksyuta, Tatyana Godunova | Yana Churikova |
| 2007 | Channel One | Yuri Aksyuta, Yelena Batinova | Yana Churikova |
| 2008 | Telekanal Rossiya, RTR Planeta | Dmitry Guberniev, Olga Shelest [ru] | Oxana Fedorova |
| 2009 | Channel One | Yana Churikova (All shows) Aleksey Manuylov (Semi-finals) Philipp Kirkorov (Final) | Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė |
| 2010 | Russia-1 | Dmitry Guberniev, Olga Shelest | Oxana Fedorova |
| 2011 | Channel One | Yuri Aksyuta, Yana Churikova | Dima Bilan |
| 2012 | Russia-1 | Dmitry Guberniev, Olga Shelest | Oxana Fedorova |
| 2013 | Channel One | Yuri Aksyuta, Yana Churikova | Alsou |
| 2014 | Russia-1 | Dmitry Guberniev, Olga Shelest | Alsou |
| 2015 | Channel One | Yuri Aksyuta, Yana Churikova | Dmitry Shepelev |
| 2016 | Russia-1, Russia HD | Dmitry Guberniev, Ernest Mackevičius | Nyusha |
| 2017 | No broadcast | No broadcast | Did not participate |
| 2018 | Channel One | Yuri Aksyuta, Yana Churikova | Alsou |
| 2019 | Russia 1, Russia HD | Dmitry Guberniev, Olga Shelest | Ivan Bessonov |
| 2020 | Not announced before cancellation | Not announced before cancellation | Not announced before cancellation |
| 2021 | Channel One | Yuri Aksyuta, Yana Churikova | Polina Gagarina |
| 2022–2024 | Suspended from broadcasting | Suspended from broadcasting | Did not participate |

### Costume designers

| Year | Costume designers |
| 1994 | Pavel Kaplevich |
| 2000 | Maria Grachvogel |
| 2002 | Valentin Yudashkin |

### Viewing figures

| Year | Region(s) | Share | Rating |
| 1997 | All of Russia | 53.8% | N/A |
| 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% | N/A |
| 2010 | Moscow | 46.5% | N/A |
| 2011 | Rest of Russia | 33% | 5.4% |
| 2011 | 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

| 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 | |

## Photo gallery

* Julia Savicheva in Istanbul (2004)
* Serebro in Helsinki (2007)
* Dima Bilan in Belgrade (2008)
* Anastasia Prikhodko in Moscow (2009)
* Peter Nalitch and Friends in Oslo (2010)
* Alex Vorobyov in Düsseldorf (2011)
* Dina Garipova in Malmö (2013)
* Tolmachevy Sisters in Copenhagen (2014)
* Polina Gagarina in Vienna (2015)
* Sergey Lazarev in Stockholm (2016)
* Julia Samoylova in Lisbon (2018)
* Sergey Lazarev in Tel Aviv (2019)
* Manizha in Rotterdam (2021)