Nineteen countries have confirmed their participation in the Intervision-2025 song contest, which is scheduled to be held on 20 September in Russia. Azerbaijan is not among them.
The Art Traditions Foundation, which is organising the contest, told Russia’s TASS news agency that Belarus, China, Colombia, Cuba, Egypt, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, Madagascar, Russia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Venezuela, Vietnam and the United States will take part.
“Invitations were sent to a number of European countries, as well as to the USA… Unfortunately, some countries were unable to participate due to internal reasons, lack of time for preparation and tight schedules of ministry events,” the organisers said.
In mid-June, a list of 20 participating countries was published in Intervidennya’s Telegram channel. There were Azerbaijan and the UAE, which are absent from the updated list. Instead, Madagascar appeared on the new list.
Tensions between Moscow and Baku have persisted since the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane near the Kazakh city of Aktau in December 2024. Azerbaijan holds Russia responsible for the tragedy. The Kremlin refuses to admit culpability for the incident.
In response to the detention of Azerbaijani diaspora representatives in Yekaterinburg on 27 June (two people died), Baku detained and arrested about two dozen Russian citizens, including journalists from the pro-Kremlin Sputnik Azerbaijan agency, whose licence was revoked back in February. Some of them face charges of drug smuggling and cyber fraud.
After Russian strikes on energy facilities in Ukraine linked to Azerbaijan, Baku said it might lift the ban on the transfer of weapons from its stockpile to Kiev.