Dima Bilan represented Russia with the song "Never Let You Go", which qualified from the semi-final and placed 2nd in the final, scoring 248 points.

On 26 January 2006, C1R announced a submission period for interested artists and composers to submit their entries until 1 March 2006.

[1] The jury consisted of Konstantin Ernst (general manager of C1R), Yuriy Aksyuta (music director of C1R), Ilya Bachurin (vice president of MTV Russia), Alexander Polesitskiy (general director of Europa Plus), Vladimir Matetsky (singer-songwriter and producer), Viktor Drobysh (composer and producer) and Larisa Dolina (singer).

[2] On 7 March 2006, C1R announced that they had internally selected Dima Bilan to represent Russia in Athens.

The semi-final and final were broadcast on Channel One, with commentary by Yuriy Aksyuta and Tatyana Godunova.