Late in the evening on Sept. 20, Russia staged the Intervision contest, which Moscow proudly declared to be the heir to the musical events held irregularly since 1965 in the countries of the socialist bloc, with the participation of the U.S.S.R.

Claiming someone else’s achievements is nothing new. But during wartime, a propaganda spectacle with the participation of the few who either dared or had no choice but to attend looked like a staged self-exposure rather than triumph.

What can one say, when the winner of a contest in the land of “traditional values” turns out to be a young, openly gay Vietnamese man in a dress? And this, pardon the expression, Duc Phuc even bonded with the Belarusian entrant, Nastya Kravchenko, gifting her a Vietnamese hat with her portrait on it (though he gave similar gifts to every contestant). The Vietnamese, it seems, did their homework and charmed everyone in the room. And before the jury knew it, Phuc was on the winner’s pedestal — when really, in the eyes of pro-war patriots, he belongs behind bars!

Things also went awry with the United States — Russia’s tactical trump card in this whole story. First, Brandon Howard, known mostly for speculation about his possible kinship with Michael Jackson, refused to come. He helpfully announced that Vassy — the Greek-Australian singer Vassiliki Karagiorgos — would perform instead. But after the Australian authorities sent her an “official note” as a citizen of that country, Plan B also fell through.

The audience had to be told about “unprecedented political pressure,” and the U.S. ended up represented only by a jury member — hard rock vocalist Joe Lynn Turner, a noted fan of President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko, married to a Belarusian and living long stretches outside Minsk.........

© The Moscow Times