When Vietnamese singer Duc Phuc held aloft the crystal cup trophy in Moscow’s Reside Enviornment on Saturday night time, he grew to become the inaugural winner of new song contest Intervision — a Russian reply to Eurovision that some say is as a lot about politics and energy as it’s about efficiency.
In a present overflowing with thundering vocals and pyrotechnics, Duc Phuc’s track “Phu Dong Thien Vuong,” a heady mixture of pop, rap and dubstep, noticed off second-place Kyrgyzstan to take residence the grand prize of 30 million rubles (about $360,000).
The ultimate additionally introduced the surprising. Moments earlier than the U.S. entrant, Australian-born Vassy, was as a result of take to the stage, the present’s presenters introduced that she wouldn’t be capable of carry out as a result of “political stress” from the Australian authorities. One other act, singer-songwriter Brandon Howard, had been slated to carry out for the U.S. till three days earlier than the ultimate present. He in the end dropped out as a result of “unexpected household circumstances.”
Vassy informed the Related Press that she was not capable of at present touch upon the incident.
Then, as Russian singer Shaman completed his act, he delivered a passionate speech asking for Russia’s efficiency to not be thought-about by the worldwide jury.
“Russia has already gained by inviting so many international locations to affix us,” he mentioned.
For many years, the sequin-encrusted pinnacle of worldwide music competitions has been Eurovision — the European Broadcasting Union’s continent-spanning celebration of song. Intervision needs to assert that crown. Very similar to Eurovision, the competition sees acts carry out underneath their nationwide flag in entrance of 1000’s in a bid to win votes and glory.
However beneath the glitter, geopolitics bubbles. Signed into life by particular presidential decree in February — three years after Moscow was barred from Eurovision for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine — the Russia-hosted Intervision provides Moscow a self-built platform again on the worldwide cultural stage.
Kremlin officers insist that Intervision will not be an instance of Russian gentle energy. “What we’re doing is diametrically reverse to the makes an attempt to make use of sports activities, artwork, and some other human actions for political positive factors,” Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov informed journalists in a pre-contest press convention.
But high-level Russian politicians have been constantly linked to selling Intervision. President Vladimir Putin mentioned the competition throughout his state go to to China at the beginning of September and recorded a particular video message screened earlier than the present started. Lavrov additionally appeared on the present, holding an interview between the primary and second acts.
The competitors’s significance in displaying a Russia that has been embraced, not ostracized, by the world at giant, regardless of its 3½-year warfare, is unattainable to keep away from.
“Eurovision pales compared to Intervision,” lawmaker Leonid Slutsky informed Russian state information company Tass. “(It) destroys the parable of Russian isolation.”
Intervision is modeled after a socialist-era contest of the identical title hosted in Czechoslovakia between 1965 and 1968, and Poland between 1977 and 1980. Though the 2025 Intervision has been hailed as a revival, the competitions by no means sparked a lot curiosity in Soviet Russia, says historian Dean Vuletic, creator of “Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Track Contest.”
Czechoslovak and Polish tv “noticed Intervision as a bridge between East and West,” Vuletic says. “They needed to draw the eye of Western media, Western report firms.”
Overseas artists additionally used Intervision to construct their international profile. Boney M famously featured as an interval act in 1979, the place they carried out their hit “Rasputin.”
In 2025, there are nonetheless loads of artists able to embrace a worldwide viewers, though a lot of the performers concerned are from international locations that take a minimum of a impartial stance to Russia’s warfare in Ukraine.
The Intervision lineup featured 23 acts, together with China, South Africa, Brazil, the UAE, India, Cuba, Ethiopia and Venezuela. Vassy, representing america, was a noticeable outlier.
The choice course of for particular person acts, nonetheless, is troublesome to trace. In its guidelines, Intervision says that co-organizers — the authorized entity answerable for nominating acts, organizing broadcasts and selling the competition in its residence nation — can vary from nationwide broadcasters to people, however there’s no public record to verify who these co-organizers are.
In consequence, some performers outweigh others for cultural clout, regardless of Intervision’s stipulation that each one acts needs to be a “nationwide star.” Russia’s entry, the ultra-patriotic Shaman, is among the nation’s most closely promoted acts. Musicians like Kenya’s Sanaipei and Madagascar’s Denise and D-Lain even have loyal followings again residence.
Different artists have a smaller profile. Egypt’s Moustafa Saad is finest often known as a soloist on the Alexandria Opera Home, a comparatively area of interest style within the nation.
But if Intervision hopes to construct an actual legacy, the competition doesn’t have to win over musicians, however followers.
Content material creator Henrik Larsson movies Eurovision-based response movies for his YouTube channel. He’s considered one of a small group of creators to have posted Intervision-related clips. “It gave me a perspective of various songs other than the world, not simply Europe. And a number of the songs are unbelievable.”
However most Eurovision fan communities have ignored Intervision solely. “Let the dictators and warfare criminals have their very own little get together the place they will spout their propaganda and name it a contest,” learn one touch upon a well-liked Eurovision Reddit discussion board.
Except for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Intervision has additionally made a public dedication to “conventional common and household values” — an affront to many followers of the LGBTQ+-friendly Eurovision. Details about Vassy’s position as an envoy for the NOH8 Marketing campaign, a nonprofit selling LGBTQ+ rights and gender equality, disappeared briefly from her Wikipedia web page after her participation within the contest was introduced. It was later restored.
It’s additionally unclear simply how a lot curiosity Intervision will be capable of command in Russia. The AP discovered a number of commercials on on-line casting web sites providing a small fee for anybody who would be a part of the Intervision crowd.
With out a fan base or a central group driving the competitors onward, Intervision’s future will depend upon political will. That’s dangerous, says historian Dean Vuletic. Each the Czechoslovak and Polish iterations of Intervision of the Nineteen Sixties and Seventies in the end fizzled as a result of social upheaval and altering political priorities.
Because the 2025 present drew to a detailed, organizers introduced that subsequent yr’s Intervision could be held in Saudi Arabia.
For now, Kremlin enthusiasm is in no quick provide for the competitors’s deliberate 2026 version.
“In Soviet occasions, the get together and authorities made choices to advertise a constructive picture of Russia overseas. At present, we should advance an goal portrayal,” Lavrov mentioned. “Certainly, a few of our perceived shortcomings provoke envy amongst many international counterparts.”
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Related Press writers Sarah Tetaud in Antananarivo, Madagascar, Nicholas Komu in Nairobi, Kenya, and Fay Abuelgasim in Cairo contributed.
