Russia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
,
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
. The Russian entry was selected internally by the Russian broadcaster
Channel One Russia
Channel One ( rus, Первый канал, r=Pervyy kanal, p=ˈpʲervɨj kɐˈnal, t=First Channel) is a Russian state-controlled television channel. It is the first television channel to broadcast in the Russian Federation. Its headquarters ...
(C1R).
Dima Bilan
Dima Nikolayevich Bilan (russian: Ди́ма Никола́евич Била́н; born Viktor Nikolayevich Belan, russian: Ви́ктор Никола́евич Бела́н, links=no; 24 December 1981) is a Russian singer, songwriter and acto ...
represented Russia with the song "
Never Let You Go", which qualified from the semi-final and placed 2nd in the final, scoring 248 points. This 2nd place, alongside the 2nd place of Alsou in 2000, was the best result of Russia until 2008.
Before Eurovision
Internal selection
On 26 January 2006, C1R announced a submission period for interested artists and composers to submit their entries until 1 March 2006. A jury panel evaluated the received submissions on 7 March 2006 and selected the Russian entry.
The jury consisted of
Konstantin Ernst
Konstantin Lvovich Ernst (russian: Константин Львович Эрнст; born 6 February 1961) is a Russian media manager, producer and TV host. He is currently the CEO of Channel One Russia.
Biography Early years and education
His ...
(general manager of C1R), Yuriy Aksyuta (music director of C1R),
Ilya Bachurin (vice president of
MTV Russia
MTV Russia or MTV Россия (russian: МТВ Россия) was a Russian music and entertainment TV channel, which carried out its broadcasting from September 25, 1998 to May 31, 2013. On October 1, 2013, MTV Russia was relaunched as a satel ...
), Alexander Polesitskiy (general director of
Europa Plus
Europa Plus () is a Russian commercial radio station. It is owned by the European Media Group and started broadcasting on 30 April 1990. It is mainly formatted with Hot AC and Top 40.
Europa Plus began brodcasting in the USSR in 1990.
Europa P ...
),
Vladimir Matetsky
Vladimir Leonardovich Matetsky (russian: link=no, Владимир Леонардович Матецкий; born May 14, 1952, in Moscow) is a Russian and Soviet composer, producer, and radio presenter. Matetsky is a member of the Russian Authors ...
(singer-songwriter and producer),
Viktor Drobysh
Viktor Yakovlevich Drobysh (russian: Ви́ктор Я́ковлевич Дро́быш; born June 27, 1966, Leningrad, Russian SFSR) is a Russian composer and music producer, Honored Artist of Russia (2010).
Song Author group ''Buranovskiye Bab ...
(composer and producer) and
Larisa Dolina
Larisa Aleksandrovna Dolina (russian: link=no, Лариса Александровна Долина, , née Kudelman, Кудельман, formerly Mionchinskaya, Миончинская; born 10 September 1955) is an Azerbaijani-born prominent Rus ...
(singer).
On 7 March 2006, C1R announced that they had internally selected
Dima Bilan
Dima Nikolayevich Bilan (russian: Ди́ма Никола́евич Била́н; born Viktor Nikolayevich Belan, russian: Ви́ктор Никола́евич Бела́н, links=no; 24 December 1981) is a Russian singer, songwriter and acto ...
to represent Russia in Athens. Bilan's selection as the Russian representative was decided upon by the jury panel from three shortlisted candidates: Ariana, Bilan and
Varvara. Bilan previously attempted to represent Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest in
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
and
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
. A new contest song was to be composed on the request of the jury, with "Never Let You Go" being kept as a backup, however "Never Let You Go" was ultimately selected as the Russian song due to a lack of time to create a new song within ten days for the official entry to be submitted to the
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...
.
"Never Let You Go" was composed by Alexander Lunyov, with lyrics by Irina Antonyan and
Karen Kavaleryan
Karen Kavaleryan ( hy, Կարեն Կավալերյան; russian: Каре́н Кавалеря́н; born June 5, 1961 in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union) is a Russian-Armenian lyricist. He currently holds the record (with Sharon Vaughn and Ra ...
; Antonyan and Kavaleryan previously co-wrote the lyrics for the
2002 Russian entry.
At Eurovision
Since Russia did not place in the top 10 countries (excluding the
Big Four) in the 2005 Contest, Russia was required to compete in the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 on 18 May 2006. On 21 March 2006, Russia was drawn to perform 13th in the semi-final, following
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
and preceding
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
.
For the Russian performance, Bilan was joined on stage by two ballerinas and two backing vocalists as well as a hollow white piano where a third ballerina emerged from a rose covered opening later in the performance. Russia qualified from the semi-final, placing 3rd and scoring 217 points. Since Russia was the first national announced as a qualifying country during the semi-final broadcast, Russia took the first available qualifier spot in the final running order. In the final, Russia performed 10th, following
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
and preceding
Macedonia. After the voting concluded, Russia scored 248 points and placed 2nd. Since Russia was among the top 10 countries, excluding the nations that constitute the Big Four, Russia pre-qualified to compete directly in the final of the
2007 Contest.
The semi-final and final were broadcast on Channel One, with commentary by Yuriy Aksyuta and Tatyana Godunova. The voting spokesperson for Russia was
Yana Churikova
Yana Alekseyevna Churikova (russian: Яна Алексеевна Чурикова; born 6 November 1978) is a Russian journalist and television host who worked on MTV Russia before moving to Channel One, where she hosted seven seasons of the '' ...
.
Voting
Points awarded to Russia
Points awarded by Russia
References
{{Eurovision Song Contest 2006
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006
Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...