CNN reports that after losing at the Eurovision song contest, Russians have predictably (once again) blamed their loss on foreign conspiracies.

"Hard Rock Hallelujah" may have triumphed over "Never Let You Go" but, for some Russians, Eurovision was a scandal. One day after five Finns in monster masks edged out a Russian heartthrob at Europe's largest and most-watched pop music contest, some Russians complained Sunday that the vote was skewed against their country. Some callers to the Ekho Moskvy radio station proclaimed Dima Bilan's superiority to the Finnish group Lordi; one aggrieved woman said the result was the latest in a series of anti-Russian moves by Europeans. "'We are First!' That's exactly how many Russians are reacting to the results to the international contest, Eurovision Song Contest 2006," the anchorwoman for state-run Channel One -- which broadcast the contest live -- said as the channel led its noontime newscast."Many specialists considered the vote for the victor to be a protest vote," she asserted. "The sense is that the contest was more about circus performers, clowns and pyrotechnic effects, and not a song contest," Yuri Aktsyuta, a top music producer at Channel One, said in televised comments. "I will never believe that the song by the Finnish group Lordi was better and stronger as a song than ours," he said. "I think that Russia was the winner and the voting was a protest vote, to some extent, but it was unclear what the protest was for." Not all Russians were critical of the results, however; 80 percent of people responding to an unscientific poll by Ekho Moskvyi said Bilan's second-place finish was a success.The Finnish cartoon metalheads, who sport latex monster masks and spark-spewing instruments and sing about "the Arockalypse," scandalized some compatriots when their song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" was chosen to represent the Nordic nation. Meanwhile, Bilan -- whose performance of "Never Let You Go" featured an white-clad actor climbing out of a white piano -- had a more diplomatic response to the results, which was one of the highest finishes for a Russian performer in the history of 51-year-old contest. "I'm so proud for my country. I'm unbelievable happy and there were so many interesting performers," Bilan said. "To be recognized in practically all over Europe is very pleasing." The three-hour contest was broadcast live 21st May evening from Athens' Olympic arena in 38 countries to an audience estimated at 100 million.