Power, politics and performance: Russia's revamped Intervision song contest names a winner

When Vietnamese singer Duc Phuc held aloft the crystal cup trophy in Moscow’s Live Arena on Saturday night, he became the inaugural winner of new song contest Intervision — a Russian answer to Eurovision that some say is as much about politics and power as it is about performance.

In a show overflowing with thundering vocals and pyrotechnics, Duc Phuc's song “Phu Dong Thien Vuong,” a heady mix of pop, rap and dubstep, saw off second-place Kyrgyzstan to take home the grand prize of 30 million rubles (about $360,000).

The final also brought the unexpected. Moments before the U.S. entrant, Australian-born Vassy, was due to take to the stage, the show's presenters announced that she would not be able to perform due to “political pressure” from the Australian government. Another act, singer-songwriter Brandon Howard, had been slated to perform for the U.S. until three days before the final show. He ultimately dropped out due to “unforeseen family circumstances.”

Vassy told the Associated Press that she was not able to currently comment on the incident.

Then, as Russian singer Shaman finished his act, he delivered a passionate speech asking for Russia's performance not to be considered by the international jury.

“Russia has already won by inviting so many countries to join us,” he said.

For decades, the sequin-encrusted pinnacle of international music competitions has been Eurovision — the European Broadcasting Union’s continent-spanning celebration of song. Intervision wants to claim that crown. Much like Eurovision, the contest sees acts perform under their national flag in front of thousands in a bid to win votes and glory.

But beneath the glitter, geopolitics bubbles. Signed into life by special presidential decree in February — three years after Moscow was barred from Eurovision for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine — the Russia-hosted Intervision gives Moscow a self-built platform back on the global cultural stage.

Kremlin officials insist that Intervision is not an example of Russian soft power. “What we are doing is diametrically opposite to the attempts to use sports, art, and any other human activities for political gains,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told journalists in a pre-contest press conference.

Yet high-level Russian politicians have been consistently linked to promoting Intervision. President Vladimir Putin discussed the contest during his state visit to China at the start of September and recorded a special video message screened before the show began. Lavrov also appeared at the show, holding an interview between the first and second acts.

The competition’s importance in showing a Russia that has been embraced, not ostracized, by the world at large, despite its 3½-year war, is impossible to avoid.

“Eurovision pales in comparison to Intervision,” lawmaker Leonid Slutsky told Russian state news agency Tass. “(It) destroys the myth of Russian isolation.”

Intervision is modeled after a socialist-era contest of the same name hosted in Czechoslovakia between 1965 and 1968, and Poland between 1977 and 1980. Although the 2025 Intervision has been hailed as a revival, the competitions never sparked much interest in Soviet Russia, says historian Dean Vuletic, author of “Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest.”

Czechoslovak and Polish television "saw Intervision as a bridge between East and West,” Vuletic says. “They wanted to attract the attention of Western media, Western record companies.”

Foreign artists also used Intervision to build their global profile. Boney M famously featured as an interval act in 1979, where they performed their hit “Rasputin.”

In 2025, there are still plenty of artists ready to embrace a global audience, although most of the performers involved are from countries that take at least a neutral stance to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The Intervision lineup featured 23 acts, including China, South Africa, Brazil, the UAE, India, Cuba, Ethiopia and Venezuela. Vassy, representing the United States, was a noticeable outlier.

The selection process for individual acts, however, is difficult to track. In its rules, Intervision says that co-organizers — the legal entity in charge of nominating acts, organizing broadcasts and promoting the contest in its home country — can range from national broadcasters to individuals, but there’s no public list to confirm who these co-organizers are.

As a result, some performers outweigh others for cultural clout, despite Intervision’s stipulation that all acts should be a “national star.” Russia’s entry, the ultra-patriotic Shaman, is one of the country’s most heavily promoted acts. Musicians like Kenya’s Sanaipei and Madagascar’s Denise and D-Lain also have loyal followings back home.

Other artists have a smaller profile. Egypt’s Moustafa Saad is best known as a soloist at the Alexandria Opera House, a relatively niche genre in the country.

Yet if Intervision hopes to build a real legacy, the contest doesn’t need to win over musicians, but fans.

Content creator Henrik Larsson films Eurovision-based reaction videos for his YouTube channel. He’s one of a small group of creators to have posted Intervision-related clips. “It gave me a perspective of different songs apart from the world, not just Europe. And some of the songs are fantastic.”

But most Eurovision fan communities have ignored Intervision entirely. “Let the dictators and war criminals have their own little party where they can spout their propaganda and call it a contest,” read one comment on a popular Eurovision Reddit forum.

Aside from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Intervision has also made a public commitment to “traditional universal and family values” — an affront to many fans of the LGBTQ+-friendly Eurovision. Information about Vassy's role as an ambassador for the NOH8 Campaign, a nonprofit promoting LGBTQ+ rights and gender equality, disappeared briefly from her Wikipedia page after her participation in the contest was announced. It was later restored.

It’s also unclear just how much interest Intervision will be able to command in Russia. The AP found several advertisements on online casting websites offering a small payment for anyone who would join the Intervision crowd.

Without a fan base or a central organization driving the competition onward, Intervision’s future will depend on political will. That’s risky, says historian Dean Vuletic. Both the Czechoslovak and Polish iterations of Intervision of the 1960s and 1970s ultimately fizzled due to social upheaval and changing political priorities.

As the 2025 show drew to a close, organizers announced that next year's Intervision would be held in Saudi Arabia.

For now, Kremlin enthusiasm is in no short supply for the competition's planned 2026 edition.

“In Soviet times, the party and government made decisions to promote a positive image of Russia abroad. Today, we must advance an objective portrayal,” Lavrov said. “Indeed, some of our perceived shortcomings provoke envy among many foreign counterparts.”

Associated Press writers Sarah Tetaud in Antananarivo, Madagascar, Nicholas Komu in Nairobi, Kenya, and Fay Abuelgasim in Cairo contributed.

Brazil's Family Duo Luciano Calazans & Thais Nader perform the song "Popcorn With Love" at the International Music Competition "Intervision" at the Live Arena outside Moscow, Russia, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Tajikistan's Farrukh Hasanov performs the song "Burn!" at the International Music Competition "Intervision" at the Live Arena outside Moscow, Russia, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Ethiopia's Netsanet Sultan performs the song "Song of Love" at the International Music Competition "Intervision" at the Live Arena outside Moscow, Russia, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

South Africa's Mzansi Jikelele group performs the song "Home" at the International Music Competition "Intervision" at the Live Arena outside Moscow, Russia, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Vietnam's Duc Phuc holds his trophy after winning the International Music Competition "Intervision" at the Live Arena outside Moscow, Russia, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

NUUK, Greenland (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that NATO should help the U.S. acquire Greenland and anything less than American control is unacceptable, hours before Vice President JD Vance was to host Danish and Greenlandic officials for talks.

In a post on his social media site, Trump reiterated his argument that the U.S. “needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security.” He added that “NATO should be leading the way for us to get it” and that otherwise Russia or China would — “AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!”

“NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES,” Trump wrote. “Anything less than that is unacceptable.”

Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, is at the center of a geopolitical storm as Trump insists he wants to own it — and residents of its capital, Nuuk, say it isn't for sale. The White House hasn't ruled out taking the Arctic island by force.

Vance is to meet Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt in Washington later Wednesday to discuss Greenland.

Along the narrow, snow-covered main street in Nuuk, international journalists and camera crews have been stopping passersby every few meters (feet) asking them for their thoughts on a crisis which Denmark’s prime minister has warned could potentially trigger the end of NATO.

Tuuta Mikaelsen, a 22-year-old student, told The Associated Press in Nuuk that she hoped American officials would get the message to “back off."

Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen told a news conference in Copenhagen on Tuesday that "if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU.”

Asked later Tuesday about Nielsen's comments, Trump replied: “I disagree with him. I don’t know who he is. I don’t know anything about him. But, that’s going to be a big problem for him.”

Greenland is strategically important because, as climate change causes the ice to melt, it opens up the possibility of shorter trade routes to Asia. That also could make it easier to extract and transport untapped deposits of critical minerals which are needed for computers and phones.

Trump said in Wednesday's post that Greenland is “vital” to the United States' Golden Dome missile defense program. He also has said he wants the island to expand America’s security and has cited what he says is the threat from Russian and Chinese ships as a reason to control it.

But both experts and Greenlanders question that claim.

“The only Chinese I see is when I go to the fast food market,” heating engineer Lars Vintner said. He said he frequently goes sailing and hunting and has never seen Russian or Chinese ships.

His friend, Hans Nørgaard, agreed, adding “what has come out of the mouth of Donald Trump about all these ships is just fantasy.”

Denmark has said the U.S. — which already has a military presence — can boost its bases on Greenland. For that reason, “security is just a cover,” Vintner said, suggesting Trump actually wants to own the island to make money from its untapped natural resources.

Nørgaard said he filed a police complaint in Nuuk against Trump’s “aggressive” behavior because, he said, American officials are threatening the people of Greenland and NATO.

Mikaelsen, the student, said Greenlanders benefit from being part of Denmark, which provides free health care, education and payments during study, and “I don’t want the U.S. to take that away from us."

Following the White House meeting, Løkke Rasmussen and Motzfeldt, along with Denmark’s ambassador to the U.S., are due to meet with senators from the Arctic Caucus in the U.S. Congress.

Two lawmakers — Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican — have introduced bipartisan legislation that would prohibit the use of funds from the U.S. Defense or State departments to annex or take control of Greenland or the sovereign territory of any NATO member state without that ally’s consent or authorization from the North Atlantic Council.

A bipartisan delegation of lawmakers is also heading to Copenhagen at the end of the week to meet with Danish and Greenlandic officials.

Last week, Denmark’s major European allies joined Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in issuing a statement declaring that Greenland belongs to its people and that “it is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”

On Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told RTL radio that his country plans to open a consulate in Greenland on Feb. 6, following a decision last summer to open the diplomatic outpost.

“Attacking another NATO member would make no sense; it would even be contrary to the interests of the United States. And I’m hearing more and more voices in the United States saying this,” Barrot said. “So this blackmail must obviously stop.”

Geir Moulson in Berlin, Lisa Mascaro in Washington and Catherine Gaschka in Paris contributed to this report.

A fisherman carries a bucket onto his boat in the harbor of Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A boat travels at the sea inlet in Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

People walk near the church in Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A bird stands on a boat at the harbour of Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

People walk along a street in downtown of Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)