By Tass
Copyright tass
MOSCOW, September 16. /TASS/. The Russian side is gradually moving away from using the term “unfriendly countries,” arguing that there are unfriendly governments, not states, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference, focused on preparations for the Intervision song contest.
He expressed hope that Intervision will become an annual event and the host country of the next contest will be announced shortly after the final.
TASS has gathered key statements by the top Russian diplomat.
On participation of performers from unfriendly countries
Russia is gradually abandoning the term “unfriendly countries,” because, as Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized recently, “we don’t have unfriendly countries, there are countries which have governments with unfriendly policies toward the Russian Federation.”
Russia “would have been happy” to see Armenian performers at Intervision and they are aware of this: “Our Armenian friends know perfectly well that the contest is being held and the question as to why there are no representatives of Armenian culture among the participants should not be addressed to us.”
Some performers cannot take part in the contest due to political motives of their countries’ leadership: “I wouldn’t want to list now those people who were not allowed to visit by their governments, to be honest, because, first of all, this is their personal situation and we don’t want to cause any difficulties for them. But those who wanted to come, they know we would have been glad to see them.”
The US administration raised no objections to the participation of a US performer in Intervision.
About language of lyrics at contest
The majority of songs at the contest will be performed in national languages: “[A participant] may sing in a foreign language but songs in a national language are encouraged and the majority will do precisely that.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry is not sure how necessary it is to translate the lyrics because “what’s important is only the music and the mood created by the performer.”
About Intervision’s future
There are grounds to believe that Intervision will be held annually: “There is certain interest, already several our colleagues expressed such a wish – to host such a contest both next year and in two years.”
“I hope that very soon, if not during the final, then shortly afterward, we will be able to announce where the next contest will be held, which country issued an invitation.”
If the number of participants rises, the contest’s structure may require adjustments: “For future contests – right now, let’s not plan too far ahead, but if the numbers grow, apparently, the contest’s structure will have to be adjusted.”
The contest’s judges “will be the representatives of each participating country.”
About Shaman
Number nine, assigned to Russian participant Yaroslav Dronov (Shaman) is comparable to the position of the center forward in football: “So, he turns out to be the center of an attack.”
About broadcast
It is planned that TV viewers worldwide “will see much more” than those who will attend the final show in person.
