About Russia...

2006 Result
History (1956 to 2005)
This year's entry
What I predicted...
What you thought...
What actually happened...
What the bookies thought...

top of page 

2006 Result

Points in Semi Final: 217
Position in Semi Final: 3rd

Points in Final: 248
Position in Final: 2nd
More about the 2006 result for Russia

2007 Contest: Directly qualified to Final

top of page 

History (1956 to 2005)

Russia's previous appearances: 9 year(s) out of 50 [note]
Years participated: 1994-1995; 1997; 2000- [note]
Best result: 2nd (2000)

Russia made its Eurovision début in 1994, when Youddiph achieved a creditable 9th place. Subsequent entries were memorable - 1995's for its bizarre title, 'Lullaby for a volcano', and 1997's for Alla Pugacheva's unfeasibly big hair - but neither performed terribly well, finishing 17th and 15th respectively. Since 2000, Russia has recorded some much improved results, due to some strong songs and the decision to perform most of them in English. Alsou and her song 'Solo' finished a strong 2nd in 2000, followed by a reasonable 12th place in 2001 and 10th in 2002.

Russia had high hopes for victory in 2003, sending the controversial 'lesbian' duo t.A.T.u to Eurovision. Fresh from a massive international hit with 'All the things she said', it was inevitable that t.A.T.u's song, 'Ne ver', ne bojsia', would do well. However, like Baccara before them (whose 1978 Eurovision entry for Luxembourg - 'Parlez-vous français?' - followed their international hit 'Yes sir, I can boogie'), global success prior to Eurovision failed to translate into victory, and t.A.T.u had to be content with 3rd place. It was very close, though - t.A.T.u finished just one point behind 2nd-placed Belgium, and three behind Sertab's winning song for Turkey. Interestingly, the UK was one of only two countries (the other being Ireland) to give Russia no points at all, despite 'All the things she said' already topping the UK charts earlier in 2003 - points from either country would almost certainly have given t.A.T.u victory. To be fair, the studio recording of 'Ne ver', ne bojsia' is fantastic, but t.A.T.u's performance on the night was second only to Jemini's in terms of tunelessness; 3rd place was about as much as it deserved. Nevertheless, it was quite enough to secure Russia's place in the Final for 2004.

Following up t.A.T.u was always going to be difficult, but Russia had a good try by sending its own Avril Lavigne lookalike, Julia Savicheva. Delivering a tuneless performance worthy of her predecessors, Julia was the beneficiary of 2004's most localised voting - picking up at least 8 points for 'Believe me' from all the former Soviet countries (making up 48 of its total of 67), but only 19 from all the others put together. However, it was probably due - at least in part - to her existing popularity within the former Soviet nations than overtly political voting. Whatever the reasons, it was quite enough to propel her to 11th place, narrowly securing Russia's direct participation in the 2005 Final in the process.

For 2005, Russia opted for another angsty female performer, this time in the form of Natalia Podolskaya and the grammatically flawed 'Nobody hurt no one'. However, despite picking up a creditable 57 points - all from countries bordering Russia - 15th place fell well short of gaining Russia direct entry to the 2006 Final, and a place in the Semi Final now beckons.
Get 'The Eurovision Song Contest: The Offical History' at Amazon.co.uk

top of page 

This year's entry

Position in Semi Final draw: 13
Position in Final draw: 10

What I said prior to the Semi Final:
"The Russians have opted for an internal selection in 2006, with Dima Bilan - apparently one of Russia's most popular artists - getting the chance to represent his country in Athens with the song 'Never let you go'. It's a great song too - very contemporary and melodic, performed by yet another handsome boy (Eurovision 2006 is full of them). It also reminds me of some other song - initially I couldn't think what, but Julia from Russia (see 'Comments' below) may well have hit the nail on the head with Rob Thomas' 'Lonely no more'. Still, 'Never let you go' is certainly another strong contender for making it out of the Semi Final. "

top of page 

What I predicted...

My prediction for Semi Final: 5th to 7th
My prediction for Final: Likely qualifier; 11th to 13th
See all my predictions for the 2006 Semi Final
See all my predictions for the 2006 Final

What I predicted prior to the Semi Final:
"Cute boy, strong song - what is there not to like? Russia often benefits more than most from neighbourly voting, partly because it has a lot of neighbours. This has resulted in some previous Russian entries doing surprisingly well even when most of Europe has given them a wide berth. However, with an artist who has already enjoyed significant success in Russia and beyond, and a song that is genuinely rather appealing, the combination of votes from neighbours and further afield should be enough to propel Russia fairly comfortably into the Final.

Once there, and depending on the draw, I think the Russian entry may get a little lost among other strong pop songs performed by appealing male singers, such as Romania's Mihai and Malta's Fabrizio. I can see Dima challenging for a place in the Final top ten, though my prediction is that he will just miss out. "
Want an alternative prediction? See Simon Hylands' 'Je t'adore, Eurovision!' site

top of page 

What you thought...

View the final leader board

In the run up to the Contest, 1,721 visitors to this site awarded points to their favourite songs in the Soult.com Eurovision Jury Vote 2006, voting as a representative of their own country's 'jury'. The votes awarded by representatives of each country were totalled, with each of the 38 participating countries (plus the 'Rest of the World') then awarding points - 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 - based on the overall voting preference of its representatives. The points awarded to the entry from Russia are shown in the tables below:

Points awarded to Russia overall:
AL	2	HR	0	GR	4	MK	6	PL	4	ES	10
AD	0	CY	3	IS	0	MT	6	PT	0	SE	6
AM	8	DK	0	IE	0	MD	8	RO	7	CH	6
BY	7	EE	10	IL	0	MC	0	RU	X	TR	0
BE	1	FI	0	LV	12	NL	0	CS	2	UA	0
BA	0	FR	8	LT	7	NO	4	SI	0	UK	1
BG	8	DE	2	WO	0	Last updated: 18 May 2006 Next scheduled update: None
Total points: 132, from 23/39 juries
Position: 6 out of 37

Points awarded to Russia in the Semi Final:
AL	5	HR	0	GR	6	MK	8	PL	7	ES	12
AD	0	CY	8	IS	0	MT	8	PT	1	SE	8
AM	10	DK	4	IE	1	MD	10	RO	10	CH	10
BY	10	EE	10	IL	1	MC	0	RU	X	TR	0
BE	5	FI	4	LV	12	NL	0	CS	6	UA	3
BA	5	FR	10	LT	10	NO	5	SI	1	UK	6
BG	8	DE	5	WO	5	Last updated: 18 May 2006 Next scheduled update: None
Total points: 214, from 32/39 juries
Position: 4 out of 23

Points awarded to Russia in the Final:
AL	2	HR	0	GR	4	MK	7	PL	6	ES	10
AD	2	CY	3	IS	0	MT	6	PT	0	SE	6
AM	8	DK	0	IE	0	MD	10	RO	7	CH	6
BY	7	EE	10	IL	0	MC	0	RU	X	TR	0
BE	3	FI	0	LV	12	NL	0	CS	2	UA	0
BA	0	FR	8	LT