Putin’s new Eurovision

普京的新欧洲歌唱大赛

The Global Story

2025-09-19

26 分钟
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At the height of the cold war in the 1970s, the Soviet Union set up an international song contest to rival Eurovision. It was called Intervision, and like its western counterpart, featured a bevy of cheesy songs, sequins and highly flammable outfits – albeit with a different political message. Intervision burned bright and fast – disappearing long before the fall of the Berlin Wall. But this weekend, with Russia still exiled from the Eurovision Song Contest because of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin is reviving the competition, and the USA is due to compete. In today’s episode, BBC Moscow correspondent and Eurovision superfan Steve Rosenberg explores the intertwined histories of Eurovision and Intervision, and the politics behind Putin’s decision. Producers: Hannah Moore and Valerio Esposito Executive producer: Annie Brown Sound engineer: Travis Evans Editor: China Collins (Photo: The international music contest Intervision at Zaryadye Park in Moscow. Credit: Maxim Shipenkov/EPA/Shutterstock)
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  • At the height of the Cold War in the 1970s, the Soviet Union set up an international song contest.

  • It was mostly for countries behind the Iron Curtain, and it was called Intervision.

  • Poland, Cuba, East Germany, they all took part.

  • Czechoslovakia won six times.

  • In 1976, the crowd was so pumped for Irina Ponarovskaya that the Soviet singer gave nine on-course.

  • There was no phone in vote.

  • Not that many people had phones.

  • Intervision was a Soviet copy of a hugely popular Eurovision Song Contest in the West.

  • But it fizzled out and died, just like the USSR.

  • Except, on Saturday in Moscow, Vladimir Putin is reviving it.

  • Intervision's back, this time with Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and the United States.

  • From the BBC, I'm Tristan Redman.

  • And today on The Global Story, why is Putin reviving this Soviet relic?

  • And what does it tell us about the new global soft power?

  • So I'm Steve Rosenberg.

  • I'm the BBC's Russia editor based in Moscow.

  • I've been living and working in Russia for more than 30 years now,