Elena and Yulia together

On December 10, 2002, t.A.T.u. released 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane, the English version (co-produced by Trevor Horn) of their Russian debut album. The debut English-language album Jelena Sergejewna Katina sold over five million copies around the world.

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) nude TATU and #7 on the MTV Top 20. The single received 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 photos lene alexandra flew out to Moscow to take part in the Moscow Gay Pride demonstration.^[12]