"Tatiana Zhiltsova says when it comes to song contests, there is no shame in rooting for your home team. TATIANA ZHILTSOVA: (Singing in Russian). MAYNES: It just won't be at Eurovision, which she sees is too liberal and, in her words, too gay friendly. ZHILTSOVA: (Speaking Russian). MAYNES: "We're just fine here with our own values," she tells me. "What we saw at Eurovision was offensive and something we won't accept." And now she no longer has to."
"Zhiltsova was one of several thousand fans who flocked to an arena outside Moscow Saturday for Intervision, President Vladimir Putin's answer to Russia's ban from Eurovision and bid for a conservative cultural counterweight to the West - only it's one with unexpected roots in the past. DEAN VULETIC: If anything, Intervision was more of an anti-Soviet idea than an anti-Western one. MAYNES: Dean Vuletic is a leading scholar on Eurovision and its communist cousin, Intervision."
More than 20 former Soviet nations competed at Intervision 2025, held outside Moscow, after Russia was banned from Eurovision because of its war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin revived the contest as a conservative cultural counterweight to Western events. Several thousand fans attended, with some expressing rejection of Eurovision as overly liberal and "gay friendly" and affirming traditional values. The revived Intervision drew on historical precedents: communist governments launched Intervision in the mid-1960s as a counterpart to Eurovision that often served as a bridge to the West. Cold War echoes are visible in the contest's revival.
Read at www.npr.org
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