Manizha with 'Russian Woman' will represent Russia at Eurovision 2021

Tajik-Russian singer Manizha has taken out the Russian national final this morning with her song 'Russian Woman'.

Her dual Russian-English entry won a three-song contest, defeating popular Indie band Therr Maitz with 'Future is Bright' and 2Mashi with 'Bitter Words'.

All up Manizha received 39.7% of the vote, 2Mashi 35.7% and Therr Maitz 24.6%.

Earlier in the evening Little Big performed 'Uno' and then announced they would not be returning for Eurovision 2021.

The one-hour national selection also included performances from Philip Kirkorov singing his 1995 Eurovision entry 'Kolybelnaya dlya vulkana' and Polina Gagarina singing a Russian version of the 2015 entry 'A Million Voices'.

29-year-old Manizha has been performing she was a child but gained quite a following over the decade particularly through her release music via Instagram.

The singer was born in Tajikstan just before the collapse of the Soviet Union, her family then relocated to Moscow when she was three-years-old.

Suffering bullying for her background a lot of her music addresses the struggles of acceptance with passions around feminism and migrant struggles in Russia.

In December 2020 Manizha was appointed the first Russian Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency

Russia won Eurovision in 2008 and has one of the best modern records with two seconds and two thirds in the last decade. They will be hoping for another top result from Manizha in Rotterdam.