Russia has launched an official protest against the result of the Eurovision song contest last Saturday night. The state owned Channel One TV say that tATu, who represented Russia, had their chances harmed by Ireland not using its phone in voting system.
An official statement from the Russian channel said the controversial act had been "robbed" of possible victory because of the "unlikely low points" they received from certain countries. It said that had the telephone votes in Ireland been counted, tATu would have been placed higher.
Voters in Ireland had a five-minute slot in which to register their selections after all of the songs had been performed. Because Ireland was third of the entries to disclose its voting, the phone lines could not be kept open for any longer.
While the telephone vote was ready by the time Ireland was asked for its vote, RTÉ had already made the decision to use the jury vote. "It was a live show and you couldn't really take a chance with something like this," an RTÉ spokeswoman said.
Eircom announced earlier this weeks that the Eurovision fans who voted for their favourite songs on Saturday night will not be charged for their calls.
Just three points separated Russia from the Turkish entry, 'Every way that I can' sung by Setrab Erener, which won the competition held in the Latvian capital, Riga, on Saturday night.