Drag queen Verka Serduchka will make her appearance in the second Russian semifinal, to take place next Friday. Verka (real name Andrej Danilko), earlier reached the esctoday.com headlines when he withdrew from the Ukrainian Eurovision Song Contest selections.

The complete list with participants in the second semifinal of the Russian Eurovision Song Contest selections will be announced one of the following days, but esctoday.com can already inform you that Ukrainian drag queen Verka Serduchka will be one of them.

Verka Serduchka, whose real name is Andrej Danilko, was earlier pronounced by his management as the ideal representative for Ukraine at the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev. Though, the Ukrainian jury selecting the songs expressed its criticism about Andrej Danilko, doubting his vocal skills and fearing that his image of talkative and humorous Ukrainian aunt would not be accepted by the European audience.

As a result, Serduchka withdrew from the Ukrainian selections and expressed his interest in a participation in Russia. With success, since he will be on stage at the second semifinal of the Russian selection in which he'll compete againts singers such as Varvara and Chai Vdvoem.

Esctoday.com on 4 November 2004: Ukraine: Verka Serduchka withdraws