Elena and Yulia together

On May 16, 2001, after releasing the hit "Ya Soshla S Uma," and touring Russia and surrounding countries, t.A.T.u. was signed to Universal Music Russia for five albums. The group released their debut album on May 21, 2001. 200 Po Vstrechnoy (200 [km/h] in the Wrong Lane) included 9 tracks, and 2 remixes. At the same time, the girls released their second video and single, titled Nas Ne Dogonyat (They won't catch us)." It countered the claim that t.A.T.u was just a one-hit wonder. After one week of heavy rotation on MTV Russia, it went straight to #1 on MTV's "Russian Top 10" (a weekly chart show with Russian-only videos competing with each other) and #7 on the MTV Top 20. The single received photos lene alexandra success on radio as well, listed on 1st National Radio "Russian Radio" and 7 other national radio stations in Russia.

On May 17, 2007, t.A.T.u. issued a statement directed to their gay fans: "When t.A.T.u.'s second album came out, many of our fans of alternative sexual orientation thought that we lied and betrayed them. This is not true! We’ve never done that and we’ve always advocated love without boundaries."^[11] On May 26, they flew out to Moscow to take part in the Jelena Sergejewna Katina nude Moscow Gay Pride demonstration.^[12]

On May 24, 2003, t.A.T.u. represented Russia at the Eurovision alexandra nedel Song Contest 2003, where they placed third.^[7] Russian television station Channel One protested the Eurovision results, but to no avail. PR director of Channel One said t.A.T.u. received "unlikely low points" from some countries.^[8]