Russia's least successful result was in 1995 when it placed 17th with the song "Kolybelnaya dlya vulkana" by Philipp Kirkorov, receiving 17 points in total.

[6][7] On 20 January 1997, ORT opened the submission period for interested artists and composers to submit their songs until 14 February 1997.

[6][7] At the conclusion of the deadline, the broadcaster received 53 submissions, including entries from Nogu Svelo!, Zhanna Dobrovolskaya and Andrey Kosinsky.

[9] On 23 March 1997, ORT announced that they had internally selected Alla Pugacheva to represent Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997.

[10] The selected song, entitled "Primadonna", was presented to the public on 2 April 1997 through the release of the official music video,[8] directed by Fyodor Bondarchuk.

[11] The head of the jury, Konstantin Ernst, later revealed that second place went to the song "Angel" performed by the duo Chay Vdvoyom.