Part of the fabric that makes Eurovision so special is the political ties between countries — often a result of history, culture and other allegiances. These relationships can influence the entry a country submits, as well as see artists submit entries to their aligned neighbours and associates. Think the Ukrainian Alekseev, who is representing Belarus this year. Or even the Greek star Eleni Foureira, who is representing Cyprus.
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), otherwise known as the Russian Commonwealth, is a confederation of countries which share similar cultures and history as part of the former Soviet Union. Primarily a symbolic relationship between member states, they include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Associate member states include Turkmenistan and Ukraine.
The CIS members who have participated in Eurovision (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine) have had varying degrees of success. Associate member Ukraine is the most successful, having had two wins since entering the contest (2004 and 2016). Russia had one win in 2008, but has had eight top three finishes. Azerbaijan took the trophy home in 2011. Armenia, Belarus and Moldova have yet to win the contest, but will no doubt be hoping for their first win this year in Lisbon.
Take a listen to all 6 songs of CIS entrants below, and then vote in our poll. As usual you can vote for as many songs as you like, but you can only vote once!
Belarus – Alekseev – Forever
The best song and the best singer.
Belarus – Alekseev – Forever
The best song and the best singer. 10/10
Belarus 12 p, best this year. I can listen to the song over and over agin.
Love, love, peace, peace from sweden
From Poland: 1 Ukraine (he’s so cool on stage and looks great, I like his timbre, but the live version is much better. He needs to throw out this studio version. I hope he will think about it. 2 Azerbaijan (nothing special, but the song is pleasant and the singer is nice) 3 Armenia (I like his vocals, but the song is boring) 4 Belarus (typical Russian musical harmony. The studio version is good, but the live version is terrible, I don’t see the artistry, only his teeth. 5 Russia ( not the worst song of all, but I don’t… Read more »
Alekseev’s backing vocalists are the tolmachevys, i saw them in the belarusian nf and yekatenberg concert.
yep call me biased I dont see how Yulia is the worst song lmao ))) haters are amusing :D:D anyway I like more or less most of these. Mel has a good stage show (‘Wonder’ was better than this year’s song) Alekseev had great song but chose to spoil it with weak vocals & awful new version ((( Moldova is super retro fun Aisel – great voice & catchy song Sevak – great voice, national language & stage presence all will qualify :P:P:P as for pro NATO ‘peaceful’ countries, they should go host more US minions :)))))))))) hopefully they feel… Read more »
Well, Ukraine helped to create CIS, but it’s not actually a member.
It’s a common mistake though.
True! Ukraine is NOT a member of CIS and officially never was
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS; Russian: ??????????? ??????????? ??????????, ???, tr. Sodruzhestvo Nezavisimykh Gosudarstv, SNG), also called the Russian Commonwealth (to distinguish it from the English-speaking Commonwealth of Nations[4]), is a political and economic confederation of 9 member states and 2 associate members, all of which are former Soviet Republics located in Eurasia (primarily in Central to North Asia), formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Georgia withdrew its membership in 2008, while the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), which regard their membership in the Soviet Union as an illegal occupation, chose not to participate.
Ukraine, not signing the CIS Charter of Ukraine dated January 22, 1993, is de jure not a member state of the Commonwealth, but has the status of the founding state and the CIS member state. Since April 2014, Ukraine’s cooperation within the CIS has been minimized. Ukraine has come out of a number of multilateral agreements within the CIS and has stopped membership in many bodies of industry cooperation
Shame … Where is Georgia ????
My favorites out of this bunch definitely are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan andTurkmenistan.
Dead!
I chose Armenia. Sevak nailed the song
This polls are so contrived. You must be running out of ideas to keep the clicks flowing.
Undoubtedly Ukraine, the rest barely scratch the top 20 for me
For me, it’s clearly Armenia (in my top 10), followed by Ukraine (16)…the rest are a disappointment and don’t even make my top 20! Overall, the CIS countries are relatively weaker than other years.
Completely honestly, I’m far from loving any of those. All seem to be missing something.
I love broken english, is very charming, but if you want to be so exigent about this, the truth is the singer with no.1 broken english is Netta. When she is dressed in black in front of the looper ans sings ”Hey, I think you forgot how to play
My teddy bear’s running away”, I can hear only ”ta ta ta ta ta ta”. I love Netta and hope she will win, but if you want to be so ”english language police” at least be fair.
How is that broken English? It sounds like you’re just talking about staccato.
I’m talking about how she sings the words ”Hey, I think you forgot how to play My teddy bear’s running away”. But is lovely, and we never heard this song live, so we must wait.
It’s on purpose! She want’s to acheive an ethno feeling with a “from the hood” vibe.
Yes, her accent in that part reminds me kinda of African or Jamaican accent, I think too that is on purpose..
With the Commonwealth Games about to start you should do a poll of best Commonwealth entry: UK, Australia, Malta and Cyprus!
Too simple poll )
1. Ukraine
2. Azerbaijan
3. Armenia
4. Russia or Belarus
5. Moldova
They’re ALL crap !
You suck dog balls.
none of the above
Ukraine in my top 10 and i hope Belarus and Armenia will qualify …
Belarus
I think I like only Azerbaijan and Ukraine out of these countries.
1.Belarus
2.Ukraine
3.Moldova
Voted for Armenia (solid song, singer and good prospects about the staging) and Ukraine (charismatic singer and cool staging, even if I’m still on the fence about his song and worried about his English).
Azerbaijan is generic, but it turns out that I started enjoying it after listening to it a few times.
i voted for hotties… as always..lol
Alekseev and Melovin are cutie pies and Sevak is sexy bear
Ukraine and Armenia the best here!
Damn right!)
1. Ukraine
2. Armenia
3. Moldova
4. Russia
5. Azerbaijan
6. Belarus
ALEKSEEV, nothing more. ?
1. Armenia – pure emotion.
2. Azerbaijan – weak-catchy song
They both have good vocals, especially Sevak. I am not sure about Aisel staging, but Sevak’s stage will slay (as always Armenia slays in stagings)
___
The others : meh.
1. Ukraine, my favourite song this year
2. Belarus, my top 5
3. Armenia, such a strong entry like it so much
4. Moldova, it fun but not like Sunstroke, no final
5. Russia, really dissapointig for me I like Julia but this song is not so good or interesting
6. Azerbaijan, one od my favourite Eurovision country’s but this is the worst song ever and I dont want see this in final.
I hadn’t heard about the Commonwealth of Independent States before. Thanks for bringing my attention to this term. Too bad Georgia isn’t a member.
Yep, they withdrew in 2008 because of the conflicts between them and Russia. Wiwibloggs educates!
I voted for X My Heart, such a party song. Go Azerbaijan! Moldova is a guilty pleasure for me. 😀
Belarus – Alekseev – Forever
The best song and the best singer.
”best singer” in what kind of parallel universe are you living?
Armenia is the best of the bunch!
“Forever”, 1st version.
If not… “Under The Ladder”.
So, my top 6 from CIS is: 1)Ukraine 2) Armenia 3) Moldova 4) Azerbaijan 5) Belarus 6) Russia Apart from Ukraine and Armenia I really don’t think that any of these countries will reach a particularly high result, because none of the songs have stuck with me after listening to them for couple of times. I’ll have to wait for the live performances, though. P.S. As for the commentators, who think that Georgia and Baltic States are part of the CIS – Sebastian is using the right terms, you’re not. Yes, all four of these countries were a part of… Read more »
Why you don’t make a poll for Balkan countries?
Ukraine in my top 5 this year and i like Sevak’ voice too.. the others are meh…
Voted for Azerbaijan. I don’t like other songs.
Ukraine is the best! Melovin is great artist! Cant wait for his clip next week:)))
Also i love Belarus and Azerbaijan …and where is Georgia’ entry? It was part of USSR as well as i remember from the school lol
Georgia was part of the USSR but has nothing to do with CIS, just like the Baltic countries. Instead, they are growing ties with the EU.
Ukraine BY FAR
My winner of this year, love Melovin and his song <3
So excited for the music video
Three of them in my Top 20…1 in Top 10
The other three are in bottom 10
If you say former soviet republics, this means also Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. And Georgia, of course.
No, the Baltic States were independent countries that were illegally taken over by the USSR in the 1940s, and then had their independence restored in the 1990s. They barely ever take part in Russian-led organizations and instead are western nations (pro-NATO, pro-EU). Many western governments such as the US and EU view the annexation as illegal and still considered the Baltic States to be independent throughout Soviet times.
Georgia is definitely a former Soviet Republic but they left the CIS when they went to war with Russia in 2008/09.
I agree with you! But they are still former Soviet countries.
Omg thank you for clearing out to him for me. I was too triggered to clarify it, history is important y’all 😀
This explanation is much appreciated 🙂 Didn’t even know CIS was a grouping.
I wanted to vote for Georgia but it seems that Wiwibloggs has rewritten history.
Georgia left the CIS 2008/2009 due to the ongoing war.
No they havent. Georgia are not part of CIS. There are 9 members of which only the 6 mentioned in the article are in Eurovision.
Thanks,my mistake.
None.
Moldova is my only tip from these. Ukraine is seriously overrated.
Q: Is Mélovin recording a music video for “Under The Ladder”? Is that what this Instagram post teases?: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg6NNATjSaj/?hl=en
Yes it’s a music video. He has been posting several updates last week about it 🙂
Yeyyy! 🙂
The video is already shot, the premiere is set ~ at the middle of April and it will consist slightly revamped version of the song as well
Yeyyyy! 🙂
Now if only Mélovin would come to London on Thursday…
Doesn’t Georgia have to be on the list as well, or am I wrong?
Georgia is no longer in the CIS so would not be in this poll.
well, the CIS aren’t strong this year. Azerbaijan is the best among them I think.
And I actually think that these entries aren’t that bad! Belarus is in my top 5, Ukraine and Armenia are still in my top 20. Azerbaijan and russia are in my bottom 5 , but Moldova is quite okay. This isn’t the strongest year for them, but it’s alright.