Meet Anastasia Prikhodko: registered shit-starter. Prikhodko has been chosen to represent Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest, to be held in Moscow this May. The thing is, Prikhodko is not Russian; she's Ukrainian. And her selection comes as an intense gas dispute has soured relations between her country and Russia. Like a true performer, Prikhodko didn't allow the controversy to faze her as she dominated the proceedings. She even wore heritage like a badge in the final round, choosing a song with a Ukrainian chorus. Will this be seen as a cultural olive branch or an act of treason? To the blogs, we say!

To be fair, we'll take a comment completely at random from the Eurovision site: “I against it!!! whole russia against it [sic].” Let's count that as a "nay." But here's someone from a global Facebook page devoted to Eurovision: “Anastasia Prikhodko. She is ukranian, sings in russian/ukranian, a song written by a georgian composer. Our people always be united, and no politics will destroy it [sic].” All right, so there's your polling data. Half of Russia supports the move, half does not.

In other Eurovision news, the Prikhodko's win has been especially hard on “Russian Madonna” Valeriya, who came in second and reportedly stormed off the set upon hearing the results. Her people have expertly hit the Russian news circuit crying “foul play” and contesting the fact that a representative of Russia should sing a song in Ukrainian. Valeriya, by the by, sang a song in English. Yet another linguistic twist to wrap one's head around: The Moscow Times reports that Prikhodko initially sought to represent Ukraine in this year’s competition, but was disqualified, in part, because her song had Russian lyrics.

If that wasn't enough Eurovision for you, this just in: The European Broadcasting Union has deemed the lyrics of Georgian song entry “We Don't Wanna Put In” as inconsistent with the rules of the competition. Either change the lyrics or pick another song, says the EBU. What can we say? Congratulations, Russia. A few more of those Young Russia protests and that’ll be the end of Prikhodko, too. After all, a patently silly song contest is no reason to cast indignation and pettiness aside.

Eurovision Vote-Rigging Row as Ukrainian Wins Contest to Represent Russia [Times Of London]