Russia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. Despite early indications that the Russian participation for 2007 would be organised by Rossiya Channel (RTR),

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) remained in charge of selecting the Russian entry and retained the broadcast rights for the 2007 Contest. The Russian entry was selected internally by C1R.

Serebro Serebro ( rus, Серебро, t=Silver, p=sʲɪrʲɪˈbro, a=ru-серебро.ogg; stylized as SEREBRO) was a Russian girl group formed by their manager and producer Maxim Fadeev. Serebro was formed in 2007, consisting of Marina Lizorkina, Ol ...

represented Russia with the song " Song #1", which placed 3rd in the final, scoring 207 points.

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

To select Russian Eurovision representative for 2007 contest, broadcaster RTR, which regained the right to choose a participant for Russia, was rumoured to be organising a national selection with three artists selected by the channel. However, in January 2007, it was announced that Channel One had regained the right to choose the 2007 participant after RTR decided to participate in the

Eurovision Dance Contest The Eurovision Dance Contest was an international ballroom dancing competition that was held for the first time in the United Kingdom on Saturday 1 September 2007. The contest was similar in format to the long-running Eurovision Song Contest a ...

instead. On 20 January 2007, C1R announced a submission period for interested artists and composers to submit their entries until 1 March 2007. A jury panel was to evaluate the received submissions on 3 March 2007 and select the Russian entry, however a decision was not reached and instead five candidates were shortlisted:

Aleksandr Panayotov Aleksandr Sergeyevich Panayotov (russian: Александр Серге́евич Панайотов; born 1 July 1984) is a Russian-Ukrainian singer and songwriter. He has recorded two albums so far. Eurovision Song Contest Aleksandr had made ...

and Alexey Chumakov, Band'Eros,

Gorod 312 Gorod 312 (russian: Город 312, "City 312") is a Russian-language band from Kyrgyzstan, formed in 2001. In the beginning of their career the band's name was "Mangra," but then they changed it to "Gorod 312." 312 is the area code of Bishkek, ...

and

Zveri Zveri (''Beasts''; russian: Звери) is a Russian rock band. Biography Zveri was formed in mid 2002 by Roman Bilyk, the lead singer of the band, better known as Roma Zver'. The band was named after his nickname. He was soon joined by Maks ...

. On 8 March 2007, C1R announced that they had internally selected Serebro to represent Russia in Helsinki. The announcement occurred during the Channel One programme ''Vysshaya Liga''. Serebro's selection as the Russian representative was decided upon by the jury panel from the five shortlisted candidates following a closed audition held on the same day. The Russian song, " Song #1", was presented to the public on 14 March 2007 during a special radio programme broadcast on

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 ...

. "Song #1" was composed by creator of the group

Maxim Fadeev Maxim "Max" Aleksandrovich Fadeev (russian: link=no, Макси́м Алекса́ндрович Фаде́ев) (born 6 May 1968) is a Russian singer-songwriter, composer and producer. Biography Early life and career Maxim Fadeev was born on ...

, with lyrics by Daniil Babichev. Fadeev previously composed the 2004 Russian entry. The song was also presented on 24 March 2007 during ''Vysshaya Liga''.

At Eurovision

Since Russia placed within the top 10 countries (excluding the Big Four) in the 2006 Contest, Russia pre-qualified to compete directly in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. On 12 March 2007, Russia was drawn to perform 15th in the final on 12 May 2007, following a slot allotted for a semi-finalist qualifier, which was ultimately filled by

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

and preceding

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. After the voting concluded, Russia scored 207 points and placed 3rd. The semi-final and final were broadcast on Channel One, with commentary by Yuriy Aksyuta and Elena Batinova. 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

Notes

References

{{Serebro

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007

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 ...