Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997
Russia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 in Dublin, Ireland. The Russian entry was selected internally by the Russian broadcaster Russian Public Television (ORT). Alla Pugacheva represented Russia with the song "Primadonna", which placed 15th and scored 33 points at the contest. Before Eurovision. Internal selection. ORT held an internal selection in order to decide the artist and song that would represent Russia. 53 songs were submitted to the production company Programma A, which selected the Russian entry by assembling a jury panel that included Yury Saulsky, Maksim Dunaevsky, Alexander Kutikov, Yuri  Aksyuta and Sergei Arhipov. The jury selected the song "Primadonna" performed by Alla Pugacheva. The head of the jury, Konstantin Ernst, revealed that second place went to the song "Angel" performed by the duo Chay Vdvoyom. Other artists that submitted songs included Nogu Svelo!, Zhanna Dobrovolskaya and Andrey Kosinsky. After being selected, Pugacheva stated that she was not the intended performer for the song. She had written the song for a male vocalist and the lyrics were written from a male perspective. However, the male singer, Valery Meladze, was ill for the internal selection and Pugacheva took the song on  as her own. At Eurovision. Russia performed 20th at the 1997 contest, following Hungary and preceding Denmark. After the voting concluded, Russia scored 33 points and placed 15th. The Russian conductor at the contest was a Swedish musician and bass guitarist Rutger Gunnarsson. The voting spokesperson for Russia was Arina Sharapova.