Ukraine's Viktor Yushchenko speaking before a rally during last year's presidential campaign
Last year, the Ukrainian pop artist Ruslana, a brunette scantily clad in a leather and fur ensemble, won the Eurovision song contest with a song featuring traditional Ukrainian instruments. At this year's contest, another Ukrainian group, GreenJolly, vied for the top honor on home turf in Kyiv. But the trio of pale, plumpish men from Ivano-Frankivsk placed only 20th out of 24 with their rap song "Razom Nas Bahato." Contributing to their weak finish were poor marks from the Russian and Belarusian judges who awarded the group two and zero points, respectively.