MOSCOW TOUTS ITS WORK ON EUROVISION
Anna Malpas

Moscow Times
May 19 2009

As workers were busy removing posters and billboards for the Eurovision
Song Contest, Moscow’s deputy mayor on Monday praised the city’s
organization of the glitzy event, saying it was conducted "at the
highest level."

"The organizers of the contest in other countries will find it hard
to match the standard set in Moscow," Deputy Mayor Valery Vinogradov
told a news conference, Interfax reported.

While even the winner of the event, Belarussian-born Norwegian singer
Alexander Rybak, referred to the flamboyant contest as "the biggest
gay parade in the world," Vinogradov described the attempted gay
rights protest on the day of the final as "incompatible" with the show.

"I would not mix up incompatible things: the Eurovision television
contest and attempts to hold a gay parade," said Vinogradov, who was
in charge of the city’s preparations for the event.

About 100,000 people visited the Olimpiisky Sports Complex, the site
of the contest, over the course of the weeklong competition, Moscow
deputy police chief Vyacheslav Kozlov told Interfax.

Just two people were detained from drinking alcohol in public, while
10 ticket scalpers were apprehended, Kozlov said.

The televised final Saturday night had an audience share in Moscow
of 73 percent, Channel One, which broadcast the show, said Monday.

Meanwhile, the first voting scandals emerged Monday.

The event’s Ukrainian broadcaster wrote to the European Broadcasting
Union calling for an investigation into telephone votes cast for
Russia and Israel, a Ukrainian television official said by telephone
on Monday.

Ukraine gave Russia 8 points for its song "Mamo" — prompting cheers
from the audience at Olimpiisky — and Israel just 1 point for its
peace anthem "There Must Be Another Way."

"We would like to find out what happened. We received the results
three minutes before we had to broadcast, and we had to air them,"
Roman Nedzelsky, first vice president of Ukraine’s Channel One, told
The Moscow Times by telephone from Kiev. "We want to know where they
got these numbers from."

The sensationalist web site Life.ru reported that Ukraine’s
professional jury — which accounts for 50 percent of the country’s
votes — gave zero points to Russia’s entry, which was performed by
Anastasia Prikhodko, who has a Ukrainian passport.

The jury votes have not been officially published.

Prikhodko initially auditioned to represent Ukraine. Her song, which
has a chorus in Ukrainian, finished in 11th place in Saturday’s final.

Russian voters gave neighboring Ukraine just 2 points for its song,
"Anti-Crisis Girl," performed by Svetlana Loboda. The song finished
12th among the 25 finalists.

Meanwhile, the web site Panarmenian.net reported Monday that television
viewers in Baku, Azerbaijan, were unable to see the telephone number
to vote for Armenia on their screens.

The historic enmity between the two countries was reflected at
Eurovision: Azerbaijan gave Armenia zero points, while Armenia gave
its neighbor 1 point.

Public Armenian Television has submitted a complaint to the organizers,
Panarmenian.net reported, but no one could be reached immediately
for comment Monday at either country’s national television network.

Azerbaijan finished third, while Armenia came in at 10th place.

European Broadcast Union spokesman Sietse Bakker could not be reached
for comment Monday.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress