Russia to create Intervision Song Contest for multipolar world

The Minister of Culture and the General Director of Channel One announced that Russia was launching its own song contest — Intervision. This contest used to be held back in Soviet times among the countries of the socialist camp.

Russia's Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova said at a meeting with the heads of official foreign delegations at the IX St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum that Russia was planning to organise an international music competition that would be called Intervision, Interfax reports.

"The Russian Federation, in order to promote the diversity of cultures in the multipolar world, is taking up an initiative to launch two new formats of cooperation at a time. We propose to create an independent open Eurasian film festival and film awards, as well as the Intervision music competition,” Lyubimova said.

Channel One CEO Konstantin Ernst unveiled a few details about the plans for the competition.

"There will be no political restrictions or influences in this competition. This is a free platform where all countries will be able to present samples of their popular music. We look forward to BRICS members to take part and invite all other countries to join this initiative,” Ernst said.

Intervision is a historical pop song contest held in Soviet times as part of the International Song Festival in Sopot.

Russia did not participate in Eurovision Song Contest in 2022 and 2023. After Russia started its military operation in Ukraine, organisers of the international competition excluded Russia from the list of its participants. At the same time, they assured that the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) still remained an apolitical organisation that was committed to public service.

Eurovision executive director Martin Österdahl later said that Russia's exclusion from the song contest was a difficult decision.