Russia wants to launch own version of Eurovision amid Conchita Wurst controversy

Russian lawmakers have proposed creating their own version of Eurovision after the song contest was won by a bearded Austrian drag queen who promotes gay rights.

Lawmakers picked up on growing outrage in the socially conservative country at Conchita Wurst's triumph by proposing a Russian-based contest in which family values prevail.

"The last Eurovision contest's results exhausted our patience," Communist Party deputy Valery Rashkin said. "We must leave this competition. We cannot tolerate this endless madness."

Rashkin said he would push for the creation of a "Voice of Eurasia" songfest instead, which would primarily group nations from the former Soviet Union. It was a suggestion picked up by advisers to Belarus President Aleksander Lukashenko.

"Wurst's victory symbolises the complete collapse of the European Union's moral values," the country's advisory Slavic Committee said in a statement. "We do not need Europe!"

Wurst, a 25-year-old singer whose real name is Tom Neuwirth, received most points on Saturday from countries such as Sweden and the Netherlands. Russia's love song, performed by 17-year-old identical twins, placed seventh and was backed most heavily by its allies in Belarus and Azerbaijan.