Putin aims to create Russia's own version of "Eurovision": what ideas are being proposed in the country.

The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, has ordered the organization of the music competition "Intervision" in 2025 — a counterpart to "Eurovision". The relevant decree has already been signed, and the text of the document has been published on the official website of legal acts of the Russian Federation, reports "Current Time".

The organizational committee for the competition will be headed by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko, who previously led the organizing committee for the Sochi Olympics in 2014. The chairman of the supervisory board will be Sergei Kiriyenko, Deputy Head of Putin's Administration.

According to the decree, the competition will be held to promote "further development of international cultural and humanitarian cooperation." The event is planned to take place in Moscow and the Moscow region.

This competition is not new. "Intervision" was held in the 1970s and 1980s in countries of the socialist bloc. In November 2023, Russian Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova proposed to revive this competition. In December of the same year, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed an order allocating 600 million rubles for its organization in St. Petersburg. Reports indicated that Azerbaijan, China, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Belarus expressed interest in participating in the competition.

Russia made its debut at "Eurovision" in 1994. Since then, it has participated in the song contest 23 times. On February 25, 2022, Russia was disqualified due to its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and on February 26, it was excluded from the European Broadcasting Union, making further participation and broadcasting of the contests impossible.

As a reminder, the final of the national selection for "Eurovision 2025" will take place on February 8. Ten performers will compete for the chance to represent Ukraine in the song contest.

The 69th international music competition "Eurovision 2025" will be held in Basel, Switzerland, on May 13, 15, and 17. In 2024, the victory was claimed by the non-binary representative of Sweden, Nemo, with the song "The Code".