It's such a shame as I love the competition usually. but its such a fucking fetid weeping sore on the face of the competition that I can't do it. pure genocide washing of a rightwing ethno fascist state. disgusting.
They were banned. There is a whole thing about why Russia is banned while Israel is not. I don't have the facts, but comes down to something about membership in EBU (the european broadcasting union).
Russias broadcaster also is a member of the EBU. The membership was suspended by the EBU as a result of Russias (full scale) invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Belarus was suspended in 2021 over the crackdown on anti-government protests.
So are Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and many other non European countries. Australia also participates in Eurovision. The contient really is not the issue here.