Reference Group meets in Moscow

The Executive Producer of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, Mr. Yury Aksyuta, introduced the Russian Federation, which covers an area of some 17 million square kilometers and has a population of 142 million people. In terms of area size, the Russian Federation is the largest country in the world. Some 10,5 million people live in Moscow, which covers an area of over 1,000 square kilometers, making it the largest city in Europe. Due to Moscow's time zone (GMT+3), the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest will start at 23:00 local time. 

Moscow, the proposed Host City for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, has a lot of experience with large-scale national and international events. Recently, Moscow hosted the UEFA Champions League and the Davis Cup. In 1980, the city hosted the Olympic Games. A formal decision to host the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow is expected to be taken by the Reference Group any time soon. Stay with Eurovision.tv for the latest news!

Following general concerns about the city's high hotel prices, Moscow city officials assured Channel One to negotiate reasonable room rates in a wide range of prices with official hotels for the occasion of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. 

Some other interesting facts from Channel One's presentation:

• The Press Centre is proposed to be located at the contest's venue, the Olympiski Arena, to provide optimal comfort for delegates and accredited media officials. Ms. Larisa Krymova has been appointed as PR & Press Officer, and will closely cooperate with the Communications & PR team of the Eurovision Song Contest at the EBU;
• The Opening Reception's preliminary date is Saturday, 9th of May;
• Multi-camera Director of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest is Mr. Andrey Boltenko.

After the meeting part of the day, Channel One Russia invited the Reference Group to the Olympiski Arena in downtown Moscow, the proposed venue for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. The group was impressed by the venue's "enormous size" and underlined the benefit of having all facilities under the same roof.

So far, speculations within the fan community that Russian pop icon Philip Kirkorov will host the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest are considered as "pure speculation." To be continued? 

Stay with Eurovision.tv for the latest news from Moscow, where tomorrow will see the second meeting day of the Reference Group.