The line-up for Russia's national final for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest to be held on 7th March has now been announced by the broadcaster. The 15 acts and their songs were chosen out of 50 that had remained in the running.
The line-up for the national final:
- Alexa – Ne dumat o tebye
- Breakdown – Breakdown
- Valeriya – Back to love
- Alexey Vorobyov – Heart hunting
- Venger Collective – 9 o'clock Moscow night
- Polina Griffiths – Love is independent
- Kvatro – Lyublyu tebya
- Thomas Christiansen – One more try
- Princessa Avenue – Never, never…
- Tim Rox – The happiest man
- Anna Semenovich – Love lovila
- Nikolay Fokeev – You can stop the time
- Plazma – Neverending story
- Nano – Triator
- Unisex – Ai-ai-ai
The winner will be chosen bytelevoting along witha professional jury. Many star guests will be invited to the show, among which there are well known names to the Eurovision fans. These are the ex-participants who have already represented Russia: Dima Bilan, Yulia Savicheva, Alsou, Maria Kats, Natalia Podolskaya, the band Prime Minister and the band Serebro. The results of the voting and the winner will be announced shortly after TV-show ProgectorParisHilton.
Being the winning country of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest and hence host country in 2009, Russia is directly qualified for the final of thecompetition on 16th May.