The first public performance of "Chervona Ruta" (and debut of Volodymyr Ivasyuk) was on September 13, 1970, at a television broadcast from a theatre in Chernivtsi sung by the author and Olena Kuznetsova. In 1971 the Ukrainian pop group "Smerichka" () performed "Chervona Ruta", and this further helped the song's rise in popularity. Performed by "Smerichka", the song won the title USSR "Song of the Year" at the 1971 Television Song Festival competition in Moscow. It was also a multiple prizewinner in other Eastern European countries, sung by other groups.