Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016

Eurovision Song Contest 2016
Eurovision Song Contest 2016
Country	Russia
National selection
Selection process	Internal selection
Selection date(s)	Artist: 10 December 2015; Song: 5 March 2016
Selected entrant	Sergey Lazarev
Selected song	"You Are the Only One"
Selected songwriter(s)	Philipp Kirkorov; Dimitris Kontopoulos; John Ballard; Ralph Charlie;
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Qualified (1st, 342 points)
Final result	3rd, 491 points
Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Russia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "You Are the Only One" written by Philipp Kirkorov, Dimitris Kontopoulos, John Ballard and Ralph Charlie. The song was performed by Sergey Lazarev who was internally selected by the Russian broadcaster All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK) to compete at the 2016 contest in Stockholm, Sweden. Lazarev's appointment as the Russian representative was announced on 10 December 2015, while the song, "You Are the Only One", was presented to the public on 5 March 2016.

Russia was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 10 May 2016. Performing during the show in position nine, "You Are the Only One" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 14 May. It was later revealed that Russia placed first out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 342 points. In the final, Russia performed in position 18 and placed third out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 491 points.