Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018
Russia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal, with the song “I Won’t Break” performed by Julia Samoylova. The entry was chosen internally by Channel One Russia; the artist was announced on 29 January 2018 and the song was released on 11 March 2018. The songwriters were Netta Nimrodi, Leonid Gutkin and Arie Burshtein.
In the contest, Russia competed in the second semi-final on 10 May 2018, performing sixth after Denmark and before Moldova. Russia did not qualify for the final, finishing 15th out of 18 with 65 points (51 from televoting and 14 from juries). This was the first time Russia failed to reach the final since semi-finals were introduced in 2004.
Background: Russia had taken part twenty times since 1994 and won once in 2008 with “Believe” by Dima Bilan. Their best result was third place in 2016 with “You Are the Only One” by Sergey Lazarev. In 2017, Russia selected Samoylova for Kyiv, but Ukraine banned her entry, and Russia did not participate that year.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 00:08 (CET).