On March 12, it became known that Yulia Samoilova from Russia will go to Eurovision, which will be held in Kiev in May, with the song Flame Is Burning (“The flame burns”). We tell you when Yulia began her musical career, what Russian viewers remember and who wrote the song for her.

Yulia Olegovna Samoilova was born on April 7, 1989 in the city of Ukhta in Komi. She has a brother and sister. When the girl was a year old, she was not properly vaccinated against polio, and she lost the ability to walk. Diagnosis - Werding-Hoffmann spinal amyotrophy. Yulia has the first group of disability, and she moves in a wheelchair.
"I was born absolutely healthy child developed like all normal children. Then they got vaccinated - I stopped getting up on my feet. Nothing hurt, the sensitivity was normal (as it has been until now). Mom sounded the alarm, the doctors began to treat me for everything. There were a lot of diagnoses, they said that I would die at the age of three, then at five, and so on. They treated me, treated me, and I simply began to melt before our eyes (it got worse, but, of course, the doctors said that it was because of the disease).
Then my mother wrote a refusal of all injections and treatment, and the deterioration stopped. My parents took me to all sorts of healers, healers, both known to the whole world and unknown. There were also charlatans, in general, which only parents had not seen enough of. As a result, they simply stopped traveling on the topic of my treatment. They just supported my condition with massages and manual therapy.”
Julia Samoilova, quote from the official website


For the first time, Julia performed at the age of four at New Year's party: she sang Tatyana Bulanova's song "Don't Cry" and received a big doll from Santa Claus.


Samoilova was fond of music since childhood and participated in song contests. From the age of 12 to 15, she studied with a vocal teacher at the Palace of Creativity, and in her youth she performed in a restaurant - she sang songs by both Mikhail Krug and Vladimir Vysotsky. But she says that she didn’t sing “completely thieves songs”.


In 2005, Samoilova took second place in the music competition "Schlager" in Yekaterinburg. Julia wanted to connect her life with music, but then the girl was told that she sings great, but she will not succeed in show business.
“Everywhere they said: yes, you are a very interesting, talented girl, but we are afraid that you are not for big scene. You will not be accepted precisely because of the stroller.
Julia Samoilova


In 2008, Julia organized the rock band TerraNova, which recorded six songs, but broke up in 2010.
In 2013, the singer performed in Alla Pugacheva's Factor A project on the Russia 1 channel.


She took second place, and as a sign of personal recognition, the prima presented Yulia with the Alla Gold Star award.
“I didn’t become like that at 15, not at 20, so I didn’t have any psychological break in my soul. I consider myself completely normal! When I read about myself in the newspapers, “Invalid girl chained to a chair,” I get goosebumps. It's like it wasn't written about me."
Julia Samoilova
In 2014, Samoilova performed at the opening of the Paralympics in Sochi with the song "Together". After that, as the girl said in an interview with MK, she was advised to prepare for Eurovision.
“Julia is an original singer, a charming girl and an experienced contestant, musical career requires enormous emotional and physical stress, which few people can handle. I am delighted with the progress Yulia is making along the way. I think that on May 11, millions of viewers around the world will share this feeling with us.”
Yuri Aksyuta, head of the Russian delegation at Eurovision

Alas, there will be no participant from Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 this year. And Channel One will not broadcast the show. The Security Service of Ukraine for three years banned the entry of the singer Yulia Samoilova, who was supposed to represent our country at the competition. All because of the performances in the Crimea, which Kyiv still considers its territory.

In the entire history of the competition, there has never been a case where a country was not allowed to participate in the competition. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) offered Russia to broadcast the singer's performance via satellite or change the contestant, to which Moscow refused. Well, since it’s impossible to cheer for a contestant from our country, we decided to remember who represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest in its entire history.

The debut year for Russia at Eurovision was 1994. The honor to become the first participant of the contest representing our country was awarded to the singer Masha Katz, also known under the pseudonym Judith. In Irish Dublin, she performed the song "Eternal Wanderer" and took 9th place.

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The following year, 1995, at Eurovision, which again took place in Dublin, Russia was represented by the popular crooner Philip Kirkorov. With the song "Lullaby for the Volcano" he took 17th place.

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In 1996, the singer and composer Andrei Kosinsky was supposed to go to the competition, but his song “I am me” did not pass the additional qualifying round.

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In 1997, the country was represented by Alla Pugacheva. Having performed the song "Diva", she took 15th place. Initially, Valery Meladze was supposed to perform it, but he fell ill.

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The next time Russia participated in the competition was only in 2000. From our country, a young singer from Tatarstan Alsou, who at that time was not yet 17 years old, participated in Eurovision. Alsou was waiting for a triumph - her song "Solo" took 2nd place in the competition.

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In 2001, the Russian rock band Mumiy Troll went to Eurovision with the song Lady Alpine Blue (Lady of the Blue Alps). She took 12th place in the competition.

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In 2002, the Russian pop group "Prime Minister" performed at the song contest. Having performed the song "Northern Girl" ("Girl from the North"), the quartet became the tenth.

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The t.A.T.u. group, popular both in Russia and abroad, participated in Eurovision 2003. At the competition in Latvia, the group performed the song "Do not believe, do not be afraid, do not ask" and took 3rd place.

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In 2004 the most popular in Europe musical competition the graduate of the TV project "Star Factory-2" Yulia Savicheva went. Her song "Believe Me" ("Trust Me") took 11th place.

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Another member of the Star Factory, singer Natalya Podolskaya, represented Russia at Eurovision in 2005. With the song "Nobody Hurt No One" ("No one will hurt each other"), she became 15th.

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In 2006, the Eurovision participant from Russia, Dima Bilan, did not have enough to win the famous contest. Having performed the song "Never Let You Go" ("I will never let you go"), he became the second. That year, Europeans liked the costumed rock band Lordi from Finland more.

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In 2007, the then little-known group SEREBRO went to defend the honor of Russia, which performed quite successfully with the song Song No. 1 (Song No. 1) - it became the third.

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In 2008, Dima Bilan again went to Eurovision and this time he returned to his homeland as a triumph. His song "Believe" ("Believe") took 1st place - Russia won the competition for the first time. Bilan did not perform alone on stage, the figure skater Evgeni Plushenko and the Hungarian violinist and composer Edwin Marton took part in the performance.

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In 2009 Eurovision was held in Moscow for the first time. Russia was represented at the competition by another graduate of the Star Factory - singer Anastasia Prikhodko. She performed the song "Mamo" in Russian and Ukrainian and ended up in 11th place.

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In 2010, the musical group of singer Peter Nalich passed the national qualifying round. Nalich went to Eurovision with the song "Lost and Forgotten" ("Lost and Forgotten") and took 11th place.

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In 2011, Russian singer Alexei Vorobyov participated in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Get You" ("Win You"). Vorobyov's participation in the competition was accompanied by a number of scandalous incidents; in the end, he performed far from successfully, taking 16th place.

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In 2012, the Buranovskiye Babushki group went to Eurovision. Singing grandmothers in national costumes were considered favorites even before the start of the competition. They made a huge impression on the audience and with the song "Party for Everybody" came second.

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In 2013, Russia was represented by the singer Dina Garipova - the winner of the TV show "Voice" on Channel One. Dina Garipova performed the song "What If" ("What if ...") and took fifth place.

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Russian twin sisters Tolmacheva in 2006 became the winners children's competition"Eurovision" with the composition "Spring Jazz", but in the "adult" competition in 2014 with the song "Shine" ("Shine") could only take seventh place. Moreover, during the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, the audience generally booed the news about Russia's entry into the final.

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In 2015, Russia international competition pop song was presented by vocalist Polina Gagarina, who already had a victory in the popular television show"Star Factory-2". The singer performed with the song "A Million Voices" ("Millions of Voices") and took an honorable second place. Given the difficult political context, things could have turned out much worse for Russia, so many called her silver a real victory.

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33 year old Russian singer and actor Sergey Lazarev went to the Eurovision final in 2016. With the song "You are the only one" ("You are the only one"), he took 3rd place.

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Yulia Samoilova was supposed to perform in 2017. But, alas, this year she will definitely not represent our country.

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  • As of the beginning of 2017, the Security Service of Ukraine banned 140 Russian cultural figures from entering the country, who, according to the agency, threaten national security countries. Among them are actor Mikhail Boyarsky, singers Oleg Gazmanov and Iosif Kobzon.
  • Ukraine received the right to host Eurovision 2017 after the singer Jamala with the song "1944" won in Stockholm in 2016. This year the competition will take place in Kyiv. The dates of the semi-finals are May 9 and May 11, the final will be held on May 13.

Eurovision Song Contest 2019 will be held from 14 to 18 May 2019 in Tel Aviv on the stage of the Israel Trade Fair and Exhibition Center. Representatives of 41 countries will perform in front of a multi-million audience - fans of Eurovision. Only one country with the highest scores from viewers and jury voting will be the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.

Who will go to Eurovision 2019 from Russia?

This year at the Eurovision Song Contest Russia will be represented by Sergey Lazarev with the song "Scream".

You can watch the rehearsal here:

This is the second attempt by Sergey Lazarev to win Eurovision - in 2016 he took second place with the song "You are the only one".

Lazarev's performance in the second semi-final:

Lazarev's performance in the final of Eurovision 2019:

Eurovision 2019 dates

The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 will be held in three stages: two semi-finals and a final. The first semi-final will take place on May 14 (Tuesday). The second semi-final - May 16 (Thursday). The final of Eurovision-2019 is May 18 (Saturday) at 22.00 Moscow time.

EUROVISION 2019 watch online

Live broadcasts of the Eurovision semi-finals and final can be watched free of charge at high quality uncensored on the official Eurovision YouTube channel.

The first semi-final of Eurovision 2019 watch online:

Second semi-final of Eurovision 2019 watch online:

Eurovision 2019 final watch online:

All participants of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 and their songs

First semi-final 05/14/2019
Cyprus: Tamta "Replay"
Montenegro:D mol "Heaven"
Finland: Darude feat. Sebastian Rejman
Poland: Tulia "Pali się"
Slovenia: Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl "Sebi"
Czech: Lake Malawi "Friend of a Friend"
Hungary: Joci Papai "Az en apam"
Belarus: ZENA "Like it"
Serbia: Nevena Božovic "Kruna"
Belgium: Eliot "Wake up"
Georgia: Oto Nemsadze "Keep on going"
Australia: Kate Miller-Heidke "Zero gravity"
Iceland: Hatari "Hatrið mun sigra"
Estonia: Victor Crone "Storm"
Portugal: Conan Osiris "Telemóveis"
Greece: Katerine Duska "Better love"
San Marino: Serhat "Say Na Na Na"

Second semi-final 05/16/2019
Armenia: Srbuk "Walking out"
Ireland: Sarah McTernan "22"
Moldova: Anna Odobescu "Stay"
Switzerland: Luca Hänni "She got me"
Latvia: Carousel "That night"
Romania: Ester Peony "On a Sunday"
Denmark: Leonora "Love is forever"
Sweden: John Lundvik "Too late for love"
Austria: PÆNDA "Limits"
Croatia: Roko "The dream"
Malta: Michela "Chameleon"
Lithuania: Jurij Veklenko "Run with lions"
Russia: Sergey Lazarev "Scream"
Albania: Jonida Maliqi "Ktheju tokës"
Norway: KEiiNO "Spirit in the sky"
Netherlands: Duncan Laurence "Arcade"
North Macedonia: Tamara Todevska "Proud"
Azerbaijan: Chingiz "Truth"


FINAL 05/18/2019 - results and who won

Malta: Michela "Chameleon" - 95
Albania: Jonida Maliqi "Ktheju tokës" - 90
Czech: Lake Malawi "Friend of a Friend" - 157
Germany: S!sters "Sister" - 32
Russia: Sergey Lazarev "Scream" - 369
Denmark: Leonora "Love is forever" - 120
San Marino: Serhat "Say Na Na Na" - 81
North Macedonia: Tamara Todevska "Proud" - 295
Sweden: John Lundvik "Too late for love" - ​​332
Slovenia: Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl "Sebi" - 105
Cyprus: Tamta "Replay" - 101
Netherlands: Duncan Laurence "Arcade" - 492
Greece: Katerine Duska "Better love" - ​​71
Israel: Kobi Marimi "Home" - 47
Norway: KEiiNO "Spirit in the sky" - 338
Great Britain: Michael Rice "Bigger than us" - 16
Iceland: Hatari "Hatrið mun sigra" - 234
Estonia: Victor Crone "Storm" - 86
Belarus: ZENA "Like it" - 31
Azerbaijan: Chingiz "Truth" - 297
France: Bilal Hassani "Roi" - 105
Italy: Mahmood "Soldi" - 465
Serbia: Nevena Božovic "Kruna" - 92
Switzerland: Luca Hänni "She got me" - 360
Australia: Kate Miller-Heidke "Zero gravity" - 285
Spain: Miki "La Venda" - 60

Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019

Winner - Duncan Lawrence (Netherlands)

Russia made its debut on the stage of the annual international song contest "Eurovision" in 1994. Then Judith (Maria Katz) with the song "Eternal Wanderer" took ninth place. In 1996 and 1998-1999, Russia did not participate for various reasons. In 1996, performer Andrey Kosinsky was supposed to go to the competition in Oslo (Norway) with the song "I am me", but he could not pass the qualifying round. In 1998, Russia was not allowed to participate due to the low average score in the participation of previous years. That is why Russia refused to broadcast in 1998, which violated the competition rules, and the country could not participate in 1999.

Since 2000, Russian participants have performed at Eurovision annually. Russia won Eurovision once - in 2008, when Dima Bilan performed with the song "Believe". As of 2016, Russia took part in the competition for the 20th time and since 2004 has qualified for the final every time.

Undoubtedly, the best performances at the competition can be considered performances in 2000, 2006, 2012 and 2015, when Russia was represented by Alsu, Dima Bilan, "Buranovskiye Babushki" and Polina Gagarina. All of them took second place in the competition. Third places were brought to the country by the Tatu group in 2003, the Serebro group in 2007 and Sergey Lazarev in 2016.

"Let Russia rest"

"Such are the rules of Ukraine. Let Russia rest for one year, and Samoilova be able to take part in next year", - Georgian singer Tamara Gachechiladze commented in Kyiv on the story of the Russian Eurovision participant Yulia Samoilova.

And the story of Samoilova is as follows: she was supposed to represent Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest with the love song "Flame Is Burning". However, the Security Service of Ukraine banned the artist from entering the country for three years because of her performance in the Crimea. The European Broadcasting Union tried to rectify the situation and offered Russia to broadcast the contest via satellite, or even change the contestant. But on Channel One, which is responsible for choosing a participant from Russia, they called both options unacceptable. And in the current situation, they did not consider it possible to broadcast the competition.

Yulia Samoilova was born in 1989 in Ukhta (Komi Republic). Russian Federation). A singer, composer, author of lyrics for songs, she has repeatedly won and won many music competitions and festivals both in her native Russia and abroad. On her account - bronze on the vocal TV project "Factor A" (2013, channel "Russia 1"), the award "Alla's Golden Star" (Alla Pugacheva Prize), as well as participation in the opening ceremony of the Winter Paralympic Games 2014 in Sochi.

Yulia has been in a wheelchair since childhood and has a 1st disability group. Yulia was brought into the world of music by her mother. Despite her peculiarity, the girl is used to soberly assess the steps and the path to the musical Olympus, therefore she does not accept pity in her address and tries to live a full life.

According to the Russian broadcaster, Yulia Samoilova will take part in the 2018 contest regardless of the location of the contest in the event that she is still not allowed to enter the territory of Ukraine.

Hope for Kostov

Nevertheless, at the Eurovision Song Contest there is one Muscovite boy, although of Bulgarian origin. His name is Christian Kostov, and he plays for Bulgaria. Kostov is a finalist of the first season of the Russian project "Voice. Children", as well as the second place winner in the fourth season of the Bulgarian vocal project "X Factor".

Christian was born in 2000 in Moscow. His mother Zaura is a Kazakh, his father Konstantin Kostov is a Bulgarian. The boy sings with early childhood, was the soloist of the famous children's ensemble"Fidgets" and participated with this team in numerous musical concerts in Russia and abroad. In 2009, Fidgets had the honor of opening the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow.

In 2011, Christian Kostov won the Grand Prix at the international children's competition "Sound Kids", after which Christian was accepted as a resident of the Jazz Parking production center. The experience of live performances with the Jazz Parking Band under the direction of Alexei Batychenko played an important role in the development of the young singer.

In 2012, Christian represented Bulgaria at the Junior New Wave 2012, where he finished seventh. And in October of the same year, the boy was invited to become a member of the new children's television project "School of Music" by Lina Arifulina, where he performed with popular artists, including Batyrkhan Shukenov, and took third place.

At the age of thirteen, namely in the fall of 2013, Christian successfully passes the casting (blind auditions) of the first season of the Russian television project "Voice. Children" and becomes the finalist of the project. In 2015, at the age of 15, Kristian Kostov got into the fourth season of the talent show "The X Factor Bulgaria", where he not only became the youngest participant of the season, but also took second place in the final.

In October 2016, Kristian Kostov released his debut single with the song "Ne si za men" ("Not for me"), which for two weeks was in first place on the national hit parade of the most frequently aired Bulgarian songs on radio and television. Later, on January 13, 2017, the English version of this song "You Got Me Girl" was also released.

The fact that Kristian Kostov will represent Bulgaria at the adult Eurovision 2017 in Kyiv was officially announced in March 2017. And here Christian will be the youngest contestant this year. It is noteworthy that in the winter of 2017, Christian Kostov was admitted to Berkeley, where, due to the end of the gymnasium and participation in Eurovision 2017, he will begin his studies only in 2018.

Christian Kostov has a very high chance of winning Eurovision. Despite the fact that the bookmakers unanimously tipped the first place to the Italian singer Francesco Gabbani, and Kostov - the second, Christian is really stepping on the heels of the Italian. And Eurovision, as you know, is an unexpected contest. Yes, and on the stage of the competition, Kostov will perform with a suitable song "Beautiful Mess" - "Beautiful Confusion". So let's see!

The 62nd Eurovision Song Contest kicks off in Kyiv on Tuesday, May 9. In Ukraine, the show is held thanks to the singer Jamala, who won last year in Stockholm with the song "1944". Traditionally, the competition consists of three concerts: two semi-finals and a final, in which on May 13 the winners of the semi-finals and representatives of the "big five" countries - the founders of the competition (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Great Britain) and the host country Ukraine will take part.