Russian PM Vladimir Putin took the stage at Eurovision to greet one of the favorites to win the contest, pop singers AySel & Arash, during their rehearsal. The duo is representing Azerbaijan.

Putin shook hands with the pop musicians as they went through a routine rehearsal of their love song ‘Always’ on stage at the Olympiisky stadium in Moscow, site of this year's Eurovision Song Contest.

The lyrics of the song perfectly reflected the mood of the singers as they sang “Suddenly you stand beside me and I see a million burning stars… ”

AySel & Arash were not wearing their formal costumes, but were casually dressed in jeans.

Twenty-year old AySel was born in Baku and has been singing since she was four.

Arash was born in Tehran but has Azeri roots. Both singers have a full roster of music awards and, according to music experts, are one of the shoo-ins to make it to the final. They are currently in the top 5 of both polls and betting agencies.