Evrovidenie 2008 was the fourth edition of Evrovidenie, the music competition that selects Russia’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The show took place on 9 March 2008 at the Akademicheskiy Concert Hall in Moscow and hosted by Oxana Fedorova and Oskar Kuchera. Twenty-seven artists and songs participated and the winner was selected through a jury and a public televote. The show was broadcast on Russia-1, RTR-Planeta as well as online via the broadcaster’s website rfn.ru.
Competing entries
On 8 December 2007, RTR announced a submission period for interested artists and composers to submit their entries between 15 December 2007 and 1 February 2008. The broadcaster received 167 submissions at the conclusion of the deadline. A jury panel evaluated the received submissions and selected the twenty-five finalists for the national final. The competing acts alongside an additional two finalists were announced on 4 March 2008 and among the competing artists were 2002 Russian Eurovision entrants Premyer-Ministr, 2006 Russian Eurovision entrant Dima Bilan, and 2006 Belarusian Eurovision entrant Polina Smolova.
A documentary programme about the Eurovision Song Contest was produced and aired on Russia-1 in the lead up to the national final, while Muz-TV and Love Radio presented the finalists to the public and covered the preparations of the national final.
| Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) |
| A-Sortie | „Colours of My Love“ | Kim Breiburg |
| Aero | „Siberia“ | Aero |
| Aleksandr Panayotov | „Crescent and Cross“ | Kim Breiburg, Karen Kavaleryan |
| Alexey Vorobyov | „New Russian Kalinka“ | Vladimir Molchanov, Alexey Vorobyov |
| Anatoly Alyoshin | „One More Try“ | Sasha Lev, Karen Kaveleryan |
| Anna Mushak and Project William | „The Needle“ | Anna Mushak |
| Asılyar | „Qarlığaçlar“ (Карлыгачлар) | Marat Muhin, Mönir Mazunov |
| Aziya | „Odinokiy dozhd“ (Одинокий дождь) | Nalchik Amur Uspaev, Kazbek Shadov |
| BK! | „Don’t Break My Heart“ | Boris Khludnev, Pavel Maklay |
| Dima Bilan | „Believe“ | Jim Beanz, Dima Bilan |
| Granat | „Another Side of Midnight“ | Marcel Gonzales, Anastasiya Maximova, Ilya Mazurenko |
| Helena Gorskaya | „Always All Alone“ | Alexandr Grata, Vyacheslav Kokarev |
| Max Lorens and Satsura | „Day nam dozhd’“ (Дай нам дождь) | Seryoga |
| Natalia Astafyeva | „Tri luny“ (Три луны) | Natalia Astafyeva |
| Natalia Terekhova | „So Can You Tell Me“ | Natalia Terekhova |
| Nora Adam | „Gotta Let It Go“ | Gosha Levchenko |
| Olga Varvus | „King of Seduction“ | Olga Varvus |
| Pierre Narciss and Jam Sheriff | „Who Am I Without Your Love“ | Musa Sheriff |
| Polina Smolova | „Na rasstoyanii dykhanya“ (На расстоянии дыхания) | Svetlana Kulemina, Alfred Kin, Sergey Alihanov |
| Premyer-Ministr | „My parallelniye miry“ (Мы параллельные миры) | Taras Demchuk, Irina Stepanova, Denis Khrushchov |
| Roman Bezhin | „I’m Missing“ | Roman Bezhin |
| Sabrina | „Wreck“ | Jim Beanz |
| Sergey Lazarev | „Flyer“ | Rasmus Lindwall, Robert Watts, Mårten Eriksson |
| Tamila Bloggy | „Sny“ (Сны) | Tamila Grishchenko |
| Yulia Mikhalchik | „Cold Fingers“ | Natalia Pavlova, Vladislav Dzyatko |
| Zhenya Otradnaya | „Porque amor“ | Anton Vartanov, P. Sepeda |
| Zhenya Rasskazova | „Otpuskayu tebya“ (Отпускаю тебя) | Sergey Chepurnov |
Final
The final took place on 9 March 2008. Twenty-seven entries competed and the winner, „Believe“ performed by Dima Bilan, was determined through a 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel and public televoting. The jury consisted of Igor Krutoy (composer), Sergey Arhipov (deputy director of Radio Mayak), Maxim Fadeev (composer and producer), Gennady Gokhshtein (executive entertainment producer of Russia-1) and Vladimir Matetsky (singer-songwriter and producer). In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Eurovision Song Contest 2007 winner Marija Šerifović, 2008 Belarusian Eurovision entrant Ruslan Alekhno and 2008 Ukrainian Eurovision entrant Ani Lorak performed as guests.
Final – 9 March 2008
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Total | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A-Sortie | „Colours of My Love“ | 17 | 16 | 33 | 11 |
| 2 | Polina Smolova | „Na rasstoyanii dykhanya“ | 12 | 12 | 24 | 16 |
| 3 | Asılyar | „Qarlığaçlar“ | 1 | 1 | 2 | 27 |
| 4 | Zhenya Otradnaya | „Porque amor“ | 25 | 25 | 50 | 3 |
| 5 | Aero | „Siberia“ | 3 | 4 | 7 | 24 |
| 6 | Anna Mushak and Project William | „The Needle“ | 22 | 19 | 41 | 7 |
| 7 | Nora Adam | „Gotta Let It Go“ | 2 | 2 | 4 | 26 |
| 8 | Natalia Terekhova | „So Can You Tell Me“ | 6 | 6 | 12 | 22 |
| 9 | Zhenya Rasskazova | „Otpuskayu tebya“ | 19 | 21 | 40 | 8 |
| 10 | Dima Bilan | „Believe“ | 27 | 27 | 54 | 1 |
| 11 | Helena Gorskaya | „Always All Alone“ | 14 | 13 | 27 | 14 |
| 12 | Aleksandr Panayotov | „Crescent and Cross“ | 26 | 26 | 52 | 2 |
| 13 | Pierre Narciss and Jam Sheriff | „Who Am I Without Your Love“ | 8 | 8 | 16 | 20 |
| 14 | Yulia Mikhalchik | „Cold Fingers“ | 21 | 22 | 43 | 6 |
| 15 | Granat | „Another Side of Midnight“ | 11 | 10 | 21 | 18 |
| 16 | Sabrina | „Wreck“ | 10 | 9 | 19 | 19 |
| 17 | BK! | „Don’t Break My Heart“ | 5 | 5 | 10 | 23 |
| 18 | Aziya | „Odinokiy dozhd“ | 7 | 7 | 14 | 21 |
| 19 | Tamila Bloggy | „Sny“ | 18 | 20 | 38 | 9 |
| 20 | Premyer-Ministr | „My parallelniye miry“ | 20 | 18 | 38 | 9 |
| 21 | Anatoly Alyoshin | „One More Try“ | 13 | 11 | 24 | 16 |
| 22 | Alexey Vorobyov | „New Russian Kalinka“ | 23 | 23 | 46 | 5 |
| 23 | Roman Bezhin | „I’m Missing“ | 4 | 3 | 7 | 24 |
| 24 | Sergey Lazarev | „Flyer“ | 24 | 24 | 48 | 4 |
| 25 | Natalia Astafyeva | „Tri luny“ | 15 | 14 | 29 | 13 |
| 26 | Max Lorens and Satsura | „Day nam dozhd’“ | 9 | 17 | 26 | 15 |
| 27 | Olga Varvus | „King of Seduction“ | 16 | 15 | 31 | 12 |
Dima Bilan previously represented Russia in ESC 2006 and came 2nd in the 2005 Russian Final. He went on to win ESC 2008. Polina Smolova represented Belarus in ESC 2006.