Russia will revive the long-defunct Intervision Song Contest on Saturday, billing it as a “traditional values” alternative to Eurovision after Moscow was banned from the European event over its war in Ukraine.
Performers from 23 countries—including Brazil, India, China, and several former Soviet states—will take the stage near Moscow, with organisers boasting of potential audiences in the billions. Australia-born singer Vassy will represent the United States, while Qatari and Madagascan acts add to a line-up designed to showcase the Kremlin’s growing links to the Global South. No EU country is taking part.
First launched in the 1960s for the Soviet bloc, Intervision was abandoned after Czechoslovakia’s anti-Soviet uprising in 1968. President Vladimir Putin first floated reviving it in the 2000s, but this year’s reboot is its most ambitious—pitched by officials as a defence of cultural “normality” against what they call Western decadence.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has mocked Eurovision for celebrating performers such as Austrian drag act Conchita Wurst, insisting Intervision will avoid similar “perversions.”
Critics see the contest as another Kremlin propaganda tool, blending entertainment with anti-Western messaging while tightening state control over culture at home. No public vote will decide the winner; an international jury appointed by organisers will hold full authority.
The show comes as Moscow touts closer ties with Asia, Africa, and the Middle East—and doubles down on its rejection of liberal Western norms.
