Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

On 26 January 2003, C1R announced a submission period for interested artists and composers to submit their entries until 1 March 2003. The broadcaster received 500 submissions at the conclusion of the deadline, including entries from Avraam Russo, Kristina Orbakaitė, Plazma and Smash. The jury which have consisted of Konstantin Ernst (general manager of C1R), Aleksandr Fifeman (general producer of C1R), Yuriy Aksyuta (music director of C1R), Vladimir Matetsky (singer-songwriter and producer) and Dmitri Malikov (singer, composer and producer) listened to submitted entries and was set to choose song for Eurovision, however, they did not find "anything suitable" among the submitted entries and decided to directly invite t.A.T.u to represent Russia. On 19 March 2003, C1R announced that they had internally selected t.A.T.u. to represent Russia in Riga with the song "Ne ver, ne boysya", composed by Valery Polienko and with lyrics by Mars Lasar.

Participants

At Eurovision

Russia performed 11th at the 2003 Contest, following Germany and preceding Spain. After the voting concluded, Russia scored 164 points and placed 3rd, one point behind 2nd placed Belgium and 3 points behind the winner, Turkey. This guaranteed Russia automatic qualification to the final of the 2004 Contest.

After the contest, Channel One Russia complained that Irish broadcaster RTÉ had used a back-up jury, and that it had cost them victory. A statement by Channel One said "Considering [the] insignificant difference in points between the first and third places, there are grounds to believe that the contest results could be much different for Russia." RTÉ responded by publishing the unused results of the Irish televote, which showed that had the jury not been used, Turkey would still have won and Russia would have finished in second place.

Voting

The voting spokesperson for Russia was Yana Churikova.

References

References

1. "Eurovision Song Contest 2003". Eurovision.tv.
2. Opheim, Bjørn Erik. (26 January 2003). "Russian Channel One asks for entries".
3. Bakker, Sietse. (19 March 2003). "Officially: Tatu to Eurovision for Russia". ESCToday.com.
4. "Final of Riga 2003". European Broadcasting Union.
5. (29 May 2003). "Russia launches Eurovision appeal". [[BBC News]].
6. Bakker, Sietse. (27 June 2003). "Irish televoting results finally announced". ESCToday.com.
7. "Results of the Final of Riga 2003". European Broadcasting Union.