Music Over 20 countries apparently want to take part in Russia's anti-ESC
The music show proclaimed by Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin as a rival to the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) has met with great interest, according to information from Moscow. Over 20 countries want to take part, Putin's cultural advisor told Russian agencies.
12.02.2025, 02:19
SDA
Among the participants are a number of ex-Soviet republics as well as China, Brazil and Saudi Arabia, said cultural advisor Mikhail Shvydkoi, according to Russian agencies. Russia has been excluded from the ESC due to its war of aggression against Ukraine.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was also pleased about the large number of participants in the TV competition known as "Intervision". The event offers all countries the chance to present their best musical traditions "without any censorship", promised Moscow's top diplomat at a meeting with ambassadors.
"No perversions and mockery of human nature"
"I guarantee that there will be no perversions and mockery of human nature there, as we saw at the Olympic Games in Paris," Lavrov added.
The Eurovision Song Contest is known for the fact that openly queer artists have often competed there and the show is very colorful and diverse. In 1998, for example, the trans woman Dana International won for Israel, and in 2014 the homosexual singer Tom Neuwirth won for Austria as the singer Conchita Wurst.
Last summer, the long Olympic opening ceremony in Paris featured a scene with drag queens at a table. Some saw this as a re-enactment of the Last Supper and a mockery of Christianity. It later turned out that this part of the show was meant to be a feast of the Greek gods.
Russia oppresses non-heterosexuals
In Russia, the rights of minorities who do not conform to the heterosexual (alleged) norm are severely restricted. The public display of homosexuality, for example, is prohibited. The so-called LGBT movement has been classified as an "extremist organization".
LGBT or the abbreviation LGBTQI+ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and intersex people - any plus signs or asterisks are meant as placeholders for other identities and genders.
