Russia (or as originally
tagged at Eurovision, "Russian Federation") strode into the
contest in 1994 and have made quite an impact since. In their
first years their entrants stood out visually from the
competition, with amazing vermillion frocks, men with make up
and, well, Alla Pugacheva (who made Terry Wogan think of Dick
Emery!).
As time went on the quirkiness
turned into regular solid results. Highlights were
undoubtedly the second place in 2000 and third for faux-lesbians Tatu in 2003, although in other years they
were far
from the worst performing "new country". The addition of more
and more of their former co-republics (with full voting rights
even if eliminated in the semis)
has meant a top five finish is now virtually guaranteed, and a
first Russian victory in 2008 was totally predictable.
1956>
No Entries
<1993
1994
Vecchni Strannik
Youddiph
09/25
€€€€€€€
1995
Kolybelnaya Vulkanu
Philipp Kirkorov
17/23
€€€
1996
Ja Eto Ja
Andrej Kosinskij
DNQ
1997
Primadonna
Alla Pugacheva
15/25
€€€€
1998
1999
2000
Solo
Alsou
02/24
€€€€€€€€€
2001
Lady Alpine Blue
Mumiy Troll
12/23
€€€€€
2002
Northern Girl
Prime Minister
10/24
€€€€€€
2003
Ne Verj Ne Boisja
T.A.T.U.
03/26
€€€€€€€€€
2004
Believe Me
Julia Savicheva
11/24
€€€€€€
2005
Nobody Hurt No-One
Natalia Podoskaya
15/24
€€€€
2006
Never Let You Go
Dima Bilan
02/24
€€€€€€€€€
2007
Song Number One
Serebro
03/24
€€€€€€€€€
2008
Believe
Dima Bilan
01/25
€€€€€€€€€€
Russia's dramatic (and gorgeous) debut from
Youddiph in 1994
