US ‘will take part in Russia's version of Eurovision'

Times

2 days ago

The United States has congratulated Russia on its national Russia Day holiday for the first time since the Kremlin ordered tanks into Ukraine in 2022, in another sign of warming ties between Moscow and Washington under President Trump.
'On behalf of the American people, I want to congratulate the Russian people on Russia Day. The United States remains committed to supporting the Russian people as they continue to build on their aspirations for a brighter future,' Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said in a statement.
'We also take this opportunity to reaffirm the United States's desire for constructive engagement with the Russian Federation to bring about a durable peace between Russia and Ukraine,' he added. 'It is our hope that peace will foster more mutually beneficial relations between our countries.'
As a sign of improving relations, there are reports in Russia that a performer from the United States would take part in the Intervision Song Contest, a Kremlin-backed alternative to the Eurovision Song Contest that will take place in Moscow in September. Russia will be represented by Shaman, a pop singer whose videos have drawn comparisons to Nazi propaganda.
Russia was banned from Eurovision in 2022 as western organisations cut ties with Moscow over the war. However, Putin signed a decree in February ordering Russian officials to revive the Intervision, a separate event that took place in eastern Europe during the Soviet era.
Although Russia participated in Eurovision up until 2021, the LGBT-friendly event faced increasing criticism in Moscow as Putin sought to depict his country as a bastion of 'traditional values'. Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, has said there will be 'no perversions' at the Intervision.
A Kremlin official has said that 20 'friendly countries,' including Belarus, Brazil, Cuba and India will take part. It is unclear who will represent the US. An Intervision organiser told Tass, a state news agency, that a competition would soon be held in the US to determine its contestant. The Times was unable to verify the report. Aside from Belarus, Serbia is the only other European country planning to take part, Moscow said.
It comes after a poll revealed this week how the attitudes of ordinary Russians towards Americans are changing. Only 40 per cent of Russians believe that US is the 'most hostile' country to Russia, compared to 76 per cent before Trump's election victory in November, according to the Levada Centre, an independent polling agency in Moscow.
The poll found that the most hostile countries to Russia are now considered to be Germany, Britain and Ukraine, with the US in fourth place, Levada said. It is the first time that America has not occupied the number one spot since polling began in 2005. In contrast, almost 90 per cent of Ukrainians now say they distrust Trump, according to another poll that was published in April by the New Europe Centre.
Sporting ties between Russia and America are also improving under Trump, who has often boasted of his 'great relationship' with Putin, a former KGB officer who has been in power for 25 years. After talks between Putin and Trump in March, the two leaders announced that Russian and US ice-hockey stars would play a series of friendly matches. The games would prove a boost to Russia, which was banned from most international sports events after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. No date has so far been given for the matches.
Rubio's comments were covered by Channel One, Russia's main television station, in a news programme dedicated to the national holiday, which also included a congratulatory message from a Russian policewoman in Melitopol, a Ukrainian city that is under the control of Moscow. 'Victory will be ours!' said a masked Russian national guard officer.
'After three years of silence, the United States has again congratulated Russians on Russia Day,' wrote Olga Skabeyeva, a Channel One TV presenter who has been sanctioned by the US for promoting Kremlin propaganda.
The broadcast of Rubio's comments followed days of deadly Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian towns and cities. At least 14 people, including children, were injured in Russian strikes overnight on Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, officials said.
Kim Jong-un, the North Korean dictator, also offered his congratulations to Moscow on Russia Day, pledging that Pyongyang would always 'stand with' Russia in what he described as its 'sacred war' in Ukraine. Congratulatory messages were also sent to Moscow by the autocratic leaders of Belarus, Iran, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan, among others.
Iryna Voichuk, a Ukrainian journalist, accused Washington of shaking Russia's 'bloodstained hand', while Anton Gerashchenko, a former adviser to the Ukrainian interior ministry, posted a vomit emoji next to Rubio's statement.
The Russia Day holiday was first celebrated in Russia in 1992 to commemorate the country's declaration of sovereignty after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Three years ago, Antony Blinken, Rubio's predecessor as US secretary of state, used the occasion to express support for Russians opposed to the Kremlin's crackdown on dissent.