The Altai Republic were absent from the , planned to make their return at the Turkvision Song Contest 2015. However, they were forced to withdraw from the contest on 30 November 2015, due to the Russia–Turkey relations in the aftermath of the 2015 Russian Sukhoi Su-24 shootdown near the Syria–Turkey border on 24 November 2015. Although they had selected Emil Tolkochekov to be their participant despite the forced withdrawal. The Altai Republic had confirmed their intent to participate at the Turkvision Song Contest 2016, which was subsequently cancelled due to the December 2016 Istanbul bombings.