Russia was represented at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2012 The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the 57th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, following the country's victory at the with the song "Running Scared (Ell & Nikki song), Running Scared" by Ell & Nikki, El ...

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

, Azerbaijan. The Russian entry was selected through a national final, organised by the Russian broadcaster RTR.

Buranovskiye Babushki Buranovskiye Babushki (, ; ; both meaning "Buranovo Grannies") is an Udmurt-Russian ethno-pop band comprising eight elderly women from the village of Buranovo, Udmurtia. Buranovskiye Babushki represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contes ...

represented Russia with the song " Party for Everybody", which qualified from the first semi-final and went on to place 2nd in the final, scoring 259 points.

Before Eurovision

Evrovidenie 2012

''Evrovidenie 2012'' was the seventh edition of Evrovidenie, the music competition that selects Russia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The show took place on 7 March 2012 at the Akademicheskiy Concert Hall in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

and hosted by Olga Shelest and Mikhail Zelenskiy. Twenty-five artists and songs participated and the winner was selected through a jury and a public televote. The show was broadcast on

Russia-1 Russia-1 () is a state-owned Russian television channel, first aired on 14 February 1956 as Programme Two in the Soviet Union. It was relaunched as RTR on 13 May 1991, and is known today as Russia-1. It is the flagship channel of the All-Russia ...

RTR-Planeta RTR-Planeta (''Rossiyskoe televidenie i radio - Planeta'', ) is the international TV Channel of VGTRK, a state-owned broadcaster in Russia. It is available worldwide via cable and satellite as Россия РТР (Russia RTR) for the CIS countr ...

as well as online via the broadcaster's website ''vesti.ru'' and the official Eurovision Song Contest website ''eurovision.tv''.

Competing entries

On 28 December 2011, RTR announced a submission period for interested artists and composers to submit their entries until 10 February 2012. The broadcaster received 150 submissions at the conclusion of the deadline. Between 35 and 40 entries were selected from the received submissions to proceed to auditions held on 29 February 2012 where a jury panel selected the twenty-five finalists for the national final. The competing acts were announced on 1 March 2012 and among the competing artists were

Eurovision Song Contest 2008 The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Belgrade, Serbia, following the country's victory at the with the song "" by Marija Šerifović. Organised by the European Broadcasting Unio ...

winner

Dima Bilan Dima Nikolayevich Bilan (, ; born Viktor Nikolayevich Belan [] on 24 December 1981) is a Russian singer. In 2002, Bilan participated in the first edition of New Wave. At the end of the contest, he finished in fourth place. He represented Russ ...

, 2003 Russian Eurovision entrant as part of

T.A.T.u. t.A.T.u. (, ) were a Russian pop duo consisting of Lena Katina and Julia Volkova. The two started out as part of the children's musical group Neposedy before being managed by producer and director Ivan Shapovalov and signing with Russian reco ...

Julia Volkova Yulia Olegovna Volkova (; born 20 February 1985), better known by the alternative spelling of Julia, is a Russian singer best known for being a member of the Russian girl group t.A.T.u., along with Lena Katina. Formed in Moscow, Russia by Ivan ...

, and 2006 Belarusian Eurovision entrant

Polina Smolova Polina Petrovna Smolova (, ; born 3 September 1980) is a Belarusian pop singer and the Belarusian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song '' Mum'', with which she took part in the Eurovision semi-final. She performed 5th in the ...

Final

The final took place on 7 March 2012. Twenty-five entries competed and the winner, " Party for Everybody" performed by

, was determined through a 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel and public televoting. The jury consisted of Sergey Arhipov (deputy director of

Radio Mayak Radio Mayak () is a radio broadcasting company in Russia, owned by VGTRK. Mayak is the Russian word for "lighthouse" or "beacon". As well as Radio Mayak proper (which broadcasts news, talk shows, and popular music), the company is also responsi ...

Igor Krutoy Igor Yakovlevich Krutoy () or Ihor Yakovych Krutyi born on July 29, 1954), is a Ukrainian-Russian music composer, performer, producer and musical promoter. Krutoy was awarded the title "Honoured Artist of the Russian Federation", People's Art ...

(composer), Alexander Igudin (director and producer),

Philipp Kirkorov Philipp Bedros Kirkorov (, ; ; born 30 April 1967) is a Bulgarian-born Russian pop singer. Kirkorov's career began in 1985 with participation in the Soviet musical TV show "Wider Circle". Since 2000, he has maintained public interest in his pe ...

( 1995 Russian Eurovision entrant), Arman Davletyarov (media manager),

Roman Emelyanov Roman Alexandrovich Emelyanov (Russian: Роман Александрович Емельянов), better known as simply Roman Emelyanov (Russian: Роман Емельянов) (born 3 June 1975 in Moscow, Soviet Union) is a Russian radio and t ...

(program director of

Russkoye Radio Russkoye Radio (, in English: Russian Radio) is a Russian radio station, broadcasting in some CIS countries. It differs from other similar stations since it broadcasts songs almost exclusively in Russian. History In Moscow Russkoye Radio began b ...

) and Gennady Gokhshtein (executive entertainment producer of Russia-1). In addition to the performances of the competing entries,

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and 2011 Russian Junior Eurovision entrant Katya Ryabova and 2008 Ukrainian Eurovision entrant

Ani Lorak Karolina Myroslavivna Kuiek (born 27 September 1978), better known as Ani Lorak, is a Ukrainian singer. Having been awarded the title of People's Artist of Ukraine (revoked in 2024https://www.president.gov.ua/news/34-zradniki-ukrayini-pozbav ...

performed as guests.

At Eurovision

Russia competed in the second half of the first semi-final (14th on stage), on 22 May 2012, following

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

and preceding

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. Buranovskiye Babushki received 152 points and placed 1st, thus qualifying for the final on 26 May. The public awarded Russia 1st place with 189 points and the jury awarded 8th place with 75 points. In the final, Russia was drawn to perform 6th, after

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

and preceding

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. The Russian entry scored a total of 259 points and placed 2nd in the final. The public awarded Russia 2nd place with 332 points and the jury awarded 11th place with 94 points.

Voting

Points awarded to Russia

Points awarded by Russia

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 2012

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster submits an origina ...