BRICS Countries Support Russian-Proposed Intervision Song Contest: Official

BRICS countries have reportedly voiced their backing for the Intervision song contest.

TV music contest Intervision is seen as a possible alternative to Eurovision. It has also been supported by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and China, Russian media has reported, citing Special Representative of Russian President on International Cultural Cooperation, Mikhail Shvydkoy.

"Great interest was aroused by the presentation of a popular song contest on television, which was proposed by the Traditions of Art Foundation and supported by [Russian federal] Channel One. The idea of holding such a competition, which was discussed by [Russian President] Vladimir Putin with the Chairman of [China] Xi Jinping, was supported by our Chinese colleagues. During the forum, our partners in the CIS, SCO and BRICS reacted to it with interest," the official was quoted by the media as saying.

In addition, Channel One's director general reportedly proposed to hold the first competition next year, noting that Russia counts on the active participation of the BRICS countries. He also invited "all other countries to join this initiative."

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Moreover, according to the outlet, Shvydkoi stressed that the new project isn't designed to be an antithesis of the already existing music TV contests. It is also assumed that the participants of Intervision will perform songs in national languages: "The rules and principles of voting are being worked out," he clarified.

"From my point of view, it [the contest] is deeply original. Precisely because it involves countries with different musical cultures that are not unified under one standard. It is assumed that performers who will represent their countries will perform in national languages. [...] It is absolutely obvious that in the year of Russia's presidency in both the BRICS and the CIS, this kind of competition will be held and should represent all the polyphony of the world, the multipolar world that President Putin spoke about," he was cited as saying.

The 9th Saint Petersburg International Cultural Forum – the Forum of United Cultures was held from November 16 to 18. The event was organized by the Russian Culture Ministry, the authorities of Saint Petersburg and Russia's State Hermitage Museum.