MOSCOW, October 24. /TASS/. Saudi Arabia not to host the international music competition Intervision this year, a source told TASS.
"Due to a combination of circumstances, holding it in Saudi Arabia is not currently possible. According to our information, the competition is proposed to be held in 2027," the source said.
Back in early August, a source in Riyadh told TASS that the organization of the competition in 2026 was in doubt and there was no guarantee that the event would take place.
In May, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed hope that escalation in the Middle East would not undermine the plans to organize the Intervision there. However, Saudi Arabia has not yet publicly announced the music competition and has not provided possible dates and the lineup of participants.
Intervision was a song contest organized by the International Organization of Television and Radio Broadcasting (OIRT), which existed from 1946 to 1993. It was held in the 1960s-1980s, following the same model as "Eurovision," a music award of the European Broadcasting Union, which broke away from OIRT. The contest involved not only socialist countries close to the USSR, but also Austria, Belgium, Spain, Canada, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Finland.
The Intervision was revived in 2025 in Moscow. Russia was represented by Honored Artist of the Russian Federation Yaroslav Dronov (Shaman). More than 20 countries, including all BRICS states, took part.