Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017

Which proves once again that this could be just a provocation from Russia. Knowing that the artist wouldn't be allowed and wait until the last day to submit the song

We're talking about Russia - a country whose delegation since 2013 keeps sending ironic peace anthems to Eurovision.

<i>"What if we all opened our arms?
What if we came together as one?
What if we chose to bury our guns?"

"Sending out a message out above
Telling all the world to show some love"

"We are the worlds people
Different yet we're the same
We believe
We believe in a dream
Praying for peace and healing
I hope we can start again
We believe
We believe in a dream"</i>

We know for a fact that Putin cares a lot about international events like Eurovision and the Olympics. He likes to have a say in everything, because he's very interested in presenting his country in the the most glamorous way possible. He cares about his country's reputation in the world.

The fact that Russia went for internal selections made by state TV doesn't come surprising.

Is it too far-fetched to see fishy motivations in this? Maybe. With Sergey Lazarev they finally sent a normal song again, so everything seemed to be okay again. So maybe it was just a coincidence with those 3 peace songs 2013-2015, right?

Looking at this year, it's safe to say no. Waiting until the last day before the deadline to announce a disabled singer was the perfect move for Russia, because it leaves Ukraine without any option to look good in this situation.

Letting her compete in the contest would result in booing when Russia's name comes up, which makes Ukraine look as monsters who boo a disabled innocent person, which would place Russia in the victim position and generate lots of votes (as it already did in 2014+2015). It would also mean that Ukraine doesn't stick to their laws about illegal entering of the country, which would indirectly send a sign of agreement that Crimea belongs to Russia now.

The other option, NOT letting her compete in the contest, would make Ukraine look like monsters who don't like disabled people as well. So it doesn't matter what Ukraine does.

I can only laugh at the sad tweets in the wiwibloggs article. Russia got what they wanted. People are insulting Ukraine now for having laws, lmao.

Also to the people who cry that Yulia's one-and-only dream got destroyed: Blame the Russian broadcaster for selecting her despite knowing very well about her having been to Crimea illegally. It's weak to believe that there is NO singer in the whole of Russia who hasn't been to Crimea in the past couple of years. Yulia can still participate next year, so there is no destroyed dream. And next year, she will be an even bigger hero who will get even more sympathy votes. And she has a chance to get a better song. Let's face it: if you want her to win, be happy that she doesn't try with "Flame Is Burning".

tbh I feel like it'd be in their best interest to just withdraw, like Armenia did in 2012.

Russia announce that Yulia Samoilova will represent Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018