Richard Parks Russia is reinstating the Intervision Song Contest, a Soviet-era music competition last held over four decades ago, under the directive of President Vladimir Putin. This move is viewed as a direct challenge to Eurovision, with a focus on “traditional values.” The competition is set to take place in Moscow later this year.
After being banned from Eurovision in 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine, Russia is now looking to establish an alternative platform. Putin has emphasized that Intervision will serve to “develop international cultural and humanitarian cooperation.” Unlike Eurovision, which celebrates diversity and LGBTQ+ inclusion, Intervision will highlight “spiritual, universal, and family values.” Russian senator Liliya Gumerova stressed that the contest will promote “genuine music” and oppose “values foreign to traditional culture.”
Initially introduced during the Soviet era under Leonid Brezhnev, Intervision was held from 1965 to 1968 in Czechoslovakia and later from 1977 to 1980 in Sopot, Poland, replacing the Sopot International Song Festival. It followed a format similar to Eurovision, with Eastern Bloc nations competing and a jury selecting the winner. Despite its ideological alignment with the USSR, some Western countries, such as the Netherlands and Spain, occasionally participated. Finland even won the final Intervision contest in 1980. However, political upheaval, including the rise of Poland’s Solidarity movement, led to the event’s cancellation in 1981.
According to Russian officials, nearly 20 countries have expressed interest in participating, including BRICS and CIS nations such as China, India, and Brazil—countries that have not imposed sanctions on Russia. North Korea, which takes part in its own Asiavision Song Contest, has not yet confirmed its involvement.
Putin previously attempted to bring back Intervision in 2014, following Austrian drag queen Conchita Wurst’s Eurovision victory, which Russian officials criticized as evidence of the contest’s “moral decline.” Although plans were made to hold the competition in Sochi, they never materialized. Now, after more than 40 years, Intervision is set to return, with Moscow hosting the event this autumn.