Due to the rapidly expanding contest , the decision was taken to restrict entry to the 1998 contest to those countries with the best average performance over the previous five years , a group which did not include Russia . Russia also opted out of the 1999 contest , before re-entering the fold the following year . Thus , the song was succeeded as Russian representative at the 2000 contest by Alsou with " Solo "
1998 contest
Eurovision Song Contest 1998
Primadonna (Alla Pugacheva song)