![\"Intervision](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/skynews-intervision-russia_7025840.jpg\")
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Image:
\n Intervision decorations in Red Square, Moscow, ahead of the contest<\/p>\n
There are contestants from 23 countries, which are a mixture of Russia’s allies old and new, including Belarus, Cuba and Tajikistan as well as China, India and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
The odd one out is the United States, who’ll be represented by an artist called “Vassy”. She’s not part of an official delegation, but an American voice is still a coup for the Kremlin, which will seek to use this contest as proof of the West’s failure to isolate Russia on the global stage.<\/p>\n
‘War whitewash’<\/p>\n
Intervision is not entirely new. It was originally launched in the 1960s as an instrument of Soviet soft power, before largely fading from view in the 1980s.<\/p>\n
According to Moscow, its revival has nothing to do with politics. But Ukraine<\/a> has condemned it as propaganda, and an attempt to whitewash Russia’s war.<\/p>\n It was a point I put to some contestants after their final press conferences, but it didn’t go down well.<\/p>\n “We don’t think like that, we are here to spread peace,” India’s Rauhan Malik told me, when I asked if his participation was a show of support for Russia’s invasion.<\/p>\n Image: “Are you not turning a blind eye to Russia’s aggression?” I countered.<\/p>\n “I have no idea about it,” he said. “I have no idea about the current situation that’s happening. I don’t want to speak about that as well.”<\/p>\n Image: Really? He had no idea? But before I could go on, I felt a forceful hand on my shoulder and a minder stepped in.<\/p>\n The intervention was even quicker when it came to speaking to Brazil’s act. As soon as I mentioned the word Ukraine, I was drowned out by shouts of “no, no, no, no” and the duo were ushered away.<\/p>\n Image: Where’s the glitter?<\/p>\n Intervision is not just a reaction to Russia’s recent exclusion from Eurosivion, however, it’s also a reaction to the contest’s values and what it’s come to represent.<\/p>\n Its celebration of sexual diversity and LGBTQ+ rights are seen as a symbol of what the Kremlin calls the West’s moral decline. In contrast, Intervision organisers say their contest will promote “traditional, family values.”<\/p>\n Judging by the costumes on show ahead of last week’s draw, that translates to less glitter, more embroidery, with a thematic emphasis on national heritage.<\/p>\n Read more from Sky News: Follow the World<\/p>\n Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday<\/p>\n![\"Malik,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/skynews-intervision-eurovision_7025841.jpg\")
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\n Malik, one of the contestants<\/p>\n![\"Eurovision](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/skynews-abba-eurovision-waterloo_7025842.jpg\")
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\n Eurovision legends Abba would almost certainly not make the Russian contest guest list. Pic: AP<\/p>\n![\"Brazilian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/skynews-intervision-russia_7025843.jpg\")
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\n Brazilian contestants, duo Luciano Calazans and Thais Nader <\/p>\n
NATO responds after Russian military jets ‘violate’ Estonian airspace<\/a>
‘Gender testing rules would have earned me an Olympic medal’<\/a>
Two ambulance workers arrested in connection with six deaths<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Follow](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/skynews-yalda-podcast_6910436.jpg\")
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