At a meeting of the special Eurovision Council that will determine who represents Russia at the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest took place tonight where five names were discussed. One of the five will go forward to the Eurovision Song Contest to represent the planet's largest country. Channel One has taken over responsibility for Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest this year.

The five acts being discussed are:

• Serebro
• Gorod 312
• Eros
• Zveri
• Alexandr Panaiotov and Alexey Chumakov

Serebro are a new all-girl band, under the stewardship of Max Fadeev. Fadeev produced Julia Savicheva's 2004 Eurovision Song Contest entry, Believe me, finishing 11th with 67 points. Gorod 312 are also a female led band with two previous albums to their name. Eros is a new and upcoming hip-hop act in Russia. Zveri and the Panaiotov/Chumakov partnership both participated in the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest preselection and will be hoping to make it second time lucky.

esctoday.com believes that the most likely outcome will be the Alexandr Panaiotov and Alexey Chumakov partnership, one of them as a solo artist or Serebro. The final decision is expected on Saturday 3rd March.

After Dima Bilan finished 2nd in Athens, Russia are directly qualified for the Eurovision Song Contest final in Helsinki on 12th May.