The Times

         March 10, 2009

EUROVISION VOTE-RIGGING ROW AS UKRAINIAN WINS CONTEST TO REPRESENT RUSSIA

Russia’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest was mired in controversy yesterday after a Ukrainian singer was picked to represent the country at the final in Moscow.

The choice of Anastasia Prikhodko and her song Mamo, sung in Russian and Ukrainian, sparked allegations of vote-rigging from one losing finalist and caused angry debate among Russian fans of the contest.

Her victory came weeks after the “gas war” between Russia and Ukraine, when Moscow turned off supplies to its former Soviet neighbour in a payment dispute.

If organisers of the contest hoped that it would send a message of fraternal love between the two Slavic states, they were mistaken. Valeriya, the losing finalist, was seen to storm off the set after the result was announced on Russia’s state-run Channel One tele-vision. Her producer, Yusif Prigozhin, later demanded a rerun of the contest. “A song performed in Ukrainian can’t have anything to do with Russia,” Mr Prigozhin said, referring to Mamo’s chorus. Valeriya, like most of Russia’s contestants, sang in English.

“I don’t agree with the result both as a Russian citizen and a producer,” Mr Prigozhin told the state news agency Ria Novosti. “I got a call two days ago from a well-known Russian composer who told me that Prikhodko would win. How can someone who lost in her motherland, in Ukraine, represent Russia? It’s a disgrace.”

Ms Prikhodko, 21, was disqualified from Ukraine’s contest because her song was longer than the rules permitted and not new. She was well known to Channel One viewers as the winner of the 2007 Star Factory, a Russian version of the Fame Academy contest.

She came top among 16 entrants in voting by viewers of the national final on Saturday night. A jury of experts then voted 6 to 5 for Ms Prikhodko out of three shortlisted finalists to represent Russia at the final on May 16.

The singer said in a message on her website that she was grateful for the opportunity, adding: “I will prove that I am worthy of Eurovision. I will do everything I can to make sure Russia is represented worthily.”

Ms Prikhodko’s selection prompted a torrent of criticism from Russians on the Eurovision website, with many accusing Channel One of fixing the results. One urged fellow viewers to send protest letters to President Medvedev.

Yana Rudovskaya, who produced last year’s winning Russian Eurovision entry by Dima Bilan, was also critical. She told Komsomolskaya Pravda: “A Ukrainian song will represent Russia in Eurovision! It’s a shock. I fear we won’t even make it into the Top Ten.”

Georgia has picked a thinly veiled attack on Vladimir Putin, the Russian Prime Minister, as its Eurovision entry following last year’s war with Russia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

Jarring notes

- Spain was accused of plagiarising its entry for the 1973 competition, Eres Tú (You Are), from the 1966 Yugoslavian entry, Brez Besed (Without Words)

- The British entry from 1984, Belle & the Devotions, were booed off stage at the Luxembourg-hosted competition in protest at the behaviour of English football hooligans

- In 2008 the French MP Jacques Myard claimed the inclusion of English lyrics in France’s entry was an outrage, as it was inappropriate for France to “monkey another’s culture” Source: Times database