MOSCOW, Sep 16: The Russian Foreign Ministry in determining its policies is gradually seeking to shift from the term ‘unfriendly nations’, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arguing that there are unfriendly governments, not states, ahead of the country’s Intervision 2025 Song Festival.
According to state media TASS, Lavrov expressed hope that the Intervision will become an annual event and the host country of the next contest will be announced shortly after the final.
The Intervision is a revival of the music festival which was held in the erstwhile Soviet Union, but was discontinued in the 1980s. The country revived the festival as a direct cultural and political response to the Eurovision Song Contest, from which Russia was banned after its 2022 attack on Ukraine.
The festival, revived recently, will see musicians from predominantly BRICS, Middle Eastern, and Latin American countries participating in the event, though the US will also be taking.
Lavrov commented that the Kremlin is gradually abandoning the term “unfriendly countries,” because, as Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasised 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, he added.
“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 the 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.”
Regarding the festival’s future, Lavrov remarked that Intervision will be held annually: “There is certain interest, already several of 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 afterwards, 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.”
(UNI)
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