Russia revels in Eurovision glory

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia revelled in the feel-good factor on Sunday after winning the Eurovision song contest and Germans and Britons wondered why their singers were so unloved.

Dima Bilan, a lithe 26-year-old singer, beat 24 contestants to give Russia its first victory in the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday with a rock ballad "Believe".

President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, rushed to congratulate their singer, who gushed with patriotism as he spoke to state television.

"It is really great that the prize is coming to Russia," Medvedev was quoted by the Kremlin as telling Bilan by phone.

Bilan was shown chanting "Russia, Russia, Russia" down a mobile phone to Medvedev. State television ran the Eurovision victory as its top news story in Sunday broadcasts.

But Germans fretted after their most popular band of the last decade scored zero points from 40 of 42 countries in the contest and they ended up sharing last place.

"Why doesn't anyone like us?" asked Bild am Sonntag newspaper after Germany had yet another horrendous showing in the annual contest watched by more than 100 million viewers.

"Are we too stupid to win or is it simply we're not liked?" the Sunday newspaper said. "The fact is Germany's top recording artists have failed spectacularly in this contest. Do our singers simply have no chance abroad?"

The "No Angels", four women in skimpy dresses who sold more than 5 million albums in the last eight years, went into the contest in Belgrade with hopes of giving Germany their second victory, in the 53-year-old contest. Germany last won in 1982.

The Eurovision Song Contest might be dismissed as tacky and kitsch in some countries -- as witnessed by novelty acts such as singing pirates from Latvia and writhing devils from Azerbaijan. But it is serious stuff in Germany, where 6.5 million watched.

Britain's veteran Eurovision presenter Terry Wogan questioned whether the contest favoured Eastern European countries after Britain's highly touted entry came last with Germany and Poland.

"It's no longer a music contest," Wogan said, adding he was not sure he would bother going to Eurovision again. "Indeed, Western European participants have to decide whether they want to take part from here on in because their prospects are poor."

"I'm afraid nobody loves the UK," he broadcasted during the show.

Die Welt agreed with Wogan and blamed the voting system.

"As in past years the 'Eastern European Mafia' at the Song Contest is stirring our blood," Die Welt wrote. "Russia won thanks to considerable help from its neighbours. The Russian song wasn't bad but it wasn't any better than the rest."

Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was also unhappy with the outcome, saying her country was the real victor.

"I know you came first," she said in a letter sent to Ukrainian participant Ani Lorak. "But Europe, so chaste and so delicate, could not reconcile itself to the notion of Ukraine hosting Eurovision twice in four years."

RUSSIAN BEAR RELISHES WORLD STAGE

But the Russian bear relished being back on the world stage and political leaders made the most of it.

Wins in the Eurovision Song Contest, on the ice rink and the soccer field have given Russia, bolstered by high oil prices and eight years of calm in the Kremlin, a new feeling of confidence.

During Bilan's performance, Russian Olympic gold figure skating medallist Evgeni Plushenko danced around him on skates and Hungarian violinist Edvin Marton played a Stradivarius.

"Russia's victories are coming one after another -- football, hockey and now Eurovision," Bilan, draped in a Russian tricolour flag and his shirt open, told reporters in Belgrade after the contest.

"This is not only the personal success for Dima Bilan, it is another triumph for all of Russia," Putin, who says he helped Russia rise from her knees during his eight-year presidency, told the singer in a published telegram.

Critics say the wins mean nothing and are being puffed up by the authorities as a return to Soviet glory to distract people from Russia's problems -- rampant corruption, widespread poverty, ageing infrastructure and soaring prices.

But many Russians are hungry for international prestige after the chaotic collapse of the mighty Soviet Union and are proud of Russia's swiftly expanding economic power.

Revellers in Moscow partied through the night near Red Square, some standing on cars and waving Russian flags. Talk shows heaped praise on the string of Russia's victories.

Bilan is expected to return from Belgrade later on Sunday to a hero's welcome.

(Additional reporting by Ron Popeski in Kiev, Jennifer Hill in London, Erik Kirschbaum in Berlin; Editing by Peter Millership)