won it in 2008
Russia at Eurovision
Russia first sang at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994 and has entered 23 contests, the last of them in 2021. It has won once, in 2008, with “Believe” by Dima Bilan. The contest has been held there once, in Moscow in 2009.
- 23
- contests
- 1
- win
- 1
- hosted
- first song
- 1994
- last song
- 2021
- contests
- 23
- wins
- 1 — 2008
- second place
- 4 — 2000, 2006, 2012, 2015
- in the final
- 15 of 16 tries since semi-finals began in 2004
- sung in
- English (18), Russian (7), Ukrainian (1), Udmurt (1)
- hosted
- Moscow 2009
- not in the line-up
- 1996, 1998, 1999, 2017
The win
-
2008, Belgrade “Believe”
Dima Bilan · 272 points
Photos are stills from the contest’s own videos on YouTube. Each one opens that year’s story.
Every song
All 24 entries, newest first. The year opens the story of that contest; the name opens the artist.
| Year | Artist | Song | Result | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 Rotterdam | Manizha | “Russian Woman” Russian, English | 9th of 26 | 204 |
| 2020 Rotterdam | Little Big | “Uno” English, Spanish | Contest cancelled | — |
| 2019 Tel Aviv | Sergey Lazarev | “Scream” English | 3rd of 26 | 370 |
| 2018 Lisbon | Julia Samoylova | “I Won't Break” English | Out in semi-final 2 (15th of 18) | 65 |
| 2016 Stockholm | Sergey Lazarev | “You Are the Only One” English | 3rd of 26 | 491 |
| 2015 Vienna | Polina Gagarina | “A Million Voices” English | 2nd of 27 | 303 |
| 2014 Copenhagen | Tolmachevy Sisters | “Shine” English | 7th of 26 | 89 |
| 2013 Malmö | Dina Garipova | “What If” English | 5th of 26 | 174 |
| 2012 Baku | Buranovskiye Babushki | “Party for Everybody” Udmurt, English | 2nd of 26 | 259 |
| 2011 Düsseldorf | Alexey Vorobyov | “Get You” English, Russian | 16th of 25 | 77 |
| 2010 Oslo | Peter Nalitch and Friends | “Lost and Forgotten” English | 11th of 25 | 90 |
| 2009 Moscow | Anastasia Prikhodko | “Mamo (Мамо)” Russian, Ukrainian | 11th of 25 | 91 |
| 2008 Belgrade | Dima Bilan | “Believe” English | winner! | 272 |
| 2007 Helsinki | Serebro | “Song #1” English | 3rd of 24 | 207 |
| 2006 Athens | Dima Bilan | “Never Let You Go” English | 2nd of 24 | 248 |
| 2005 Kyiv | Natalia Podolskaya | “Nobody Hurt No One” English | 15th of 24 | 57 |
| 2004 Istanbul | Yulia Savicheva | “Believe Me” English | 11th of 24 | 67 |
| 2003 Riga | t.A.T.u. | “Ne ver', ne boisia (Не верь, не бойся)” Russian | 3rd of 26 | 164 |
| 2002 Tallinn | Prime Minister | “Northern Girl” English | 10th of 24 | 55 |
| 2001 Copenhagen | Mumiy Troll | “Lady Alpine Blue” English | 12th of 23 | 37 |
| 2000 Stockholm | Alsou | “Solo” English | 2nd of 24 | 155 |
| 1997 Dublin | Alla Pugacheva | “Primadonna (Примадонна)” Russian | 15th of 25 | 33 |
| 1995 Dublin | Philipp Kirkorov | “Kolybelnaya dlya vulkana (Колыбельная для вулкана)” Russian | 17th of 23 | 17 |
| 1994 Dublin | Youddiph | “Vechny strannik (Вечный странник)” Russian | 9th of 25 | 70 |
Points for a song that went out in a semi-final are its semi-final points. Before 2004 there were no semi-finals: every song sang on the one night.
Sent more than once
The two acts Russia has sent to more than one contest.
- Dima Bilan 2006, 2008
- Sergey Lazarev 2016, 2019
Hosting
The one contest held in Russia.
On air at home
The channels that carried the contest in Russia, year by year, and who commentated where our source names them. Newest first.
- 2021
- Channel One Yana Churikova and Yuri Aksyuta
- 2019
- Russia-1, Russia HD Dmitry Guberniev and Olga Shelest
- 2018
- Channel One Yana Churikova and Yuriy Aksyuta
- 2016
- Russia-1, Russia HD Dmitry Guberniev and Ernest Mackevičius
- 2015
- Channel One Russia Yana Churikova and Yuriy Aksyuta
- 2014
- Russia-1 Olga Shelest and Dmitry Guberniev
- 2013
- Channel One Russia Yana Churikova and Yuriy Aksyuta
- 2012
- Russia-1 Olga Shelest and Dmitry Guberniev
- 2011
- Channel One Yana Churikova and Yuriy Aksyuta
- Channel One (final) Kirill Nabutov
- 2009
- Channel One Yana Churikova
- Channel One (semi-finals) Alexey Manuylov
- Channel One (final) Philipp Kirkorov
- 2008
- Telekanal Rossiya, RTR Planeta Dmitry Guberniev and Olga Shelest
- 2007
- Channel One Yuriy Aksyuta and Yelena Batinova
- 2006
- Channel One Yuriy Aksyuta and Tatiana Godunova
- 2005
- Channel One Yuriy Aksyuta and Yelena Batinova
- 2004
- Channel One (final)
- 2003
- Channel One Yuriy Aksyuta and Yelena Batinova
- 2002
- ORT Yuriy Aksyuta
- 2001
- ORT Alexander Anatolyevich and Konstantin Mikhailov
- 2000
- ORT Tatyana Godunova and Aleksey Zhuravlev
- 1999
- ORT Olga Maksimova and Kolya MacCleod
- Jewish Channel
- 1997
- ORT Philipp Kirkorov and Sergey Antipov
- 1995
- ORT Olesya Trifonova
- Radio 101 Olesya Trifonova
- 1994
- RTR Sergey Antipov
- 1993
- RTR
- 1992
- RTR
In our contest stories
Lines about Russia from our story of each contest. Follow a link for the rest of that night.
- 1994 Out with seven, in with seven
The newcomers were Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia and Slovakia.
- 1994 The result
Hungary was fourth and Russia ninth.
- 1996 The contest nobody saw
Seven countries were out: Denmark, Hungary, Israel, Macedonia, Romania, Russia — and Germany.
- 1997 A new way of being relegated
That let Germany, Denmark, Hungary and Russia back in, and Italy returned for the first time since 1993.
- 1999 Who was there
Russia could not come back from relegation.
- 2000 Who was there
Russia returned after two years out.
- 2000 The result
The Olsen Brothers won easily. They finished on 195 points, at that time the third-highest total ever, and forty ahead of Russia.
- 2003 t.A.T.u.
Russia sent the pop duo t.A.T.u., and they arrived as favourites and behaved like it.
- 2003 Ireland's jury
With three points between first and third, Russia's broadcaster argued, that could have cost it the contest.
- 2006 The result
Russia's Dima Bilan was second on 248.
- 2008 The result
Russia won for the first time.
- 2009 Georgia
Georgia and Russia had fought a war the previous summer, and Georgia's first decision was not to go to Moscow at all. It changed its mind after winning the junior version of the contest, where Russia had given it twelve points.
- 2009 Georgia
The title was a play on the name of Russia's prime minister.
- 2012 New languages
Russia's entry, by Buranovskiye Babushki, was sung in Udmurt.
- 2012 The result
Russia was second, 113 behind.
- 2013 The points Russia did not get
Officially it gave Russia no points, although Russia's singer had reportedly come second in the Azerbaijani phone vote.
Results as published by the European Broadcasting Union. “Not in the line-up” means no song from Russia was in that year’s contest, whatever the reason. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we’ll fix it.