The winner of the competition was picked by a combination of telephone voting and official juries from national broadcasters in the 42 nations that originally took part.
Britain had been billed as a favorite for the contest, but its entry, singer Jade, could only manage fifth place, despite composer Andrew Lloyd Webber writing her song.
Bookmakers had also favored Greece, which was pinning its hopes on a choreographed stage performance involving a giant flashing treadmill.
Israel made an appeal for peace and harmony with There Must Be Another Way, sung in Arabic, Hebrew and English by Arab-Jewish duo Noa and Mira.
In a Eurovision first, crew members of the International Space Station gave the command to start telephone voting in a video message from the orbiting science laboratory.
Moscow authorities splashed out US$32.5 million on the show and a weeklong series of decadent parties.
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