A total of 14 entries will compete in the 2014 Belarusian national final on 10 January in Minsk, instead of the initial 15 as Alexei Gross has withdrawn his entry from the competition.

Belarusian News Agency Belta reports : On 5 December the Belarusian TV and Radio Company received a request from the Spamash promotion center to withdraw the entry by national selection finalist Alexei Gross. It turned out that his entry “If I could do it all again” written by Belgian composer Marc Paelinck and purchased by Spamash in 2012 had already been publicly performed by another singer, which is not permitted by the Eurovision national selection rules.

The Belarusian TV and Radio Company agreed to withdraw the entry.Thus, the following artists will perform at the national selection final in January 2014: Matvei Bondarenko, Yuri Vashchuk, Daria, Zhanet, DiDuLa and Max Lorens, Anastasia Malashevskaya, Artem Mikhalenko, Alina Moshchenko, Napoli, Nuteki, Natalia Odintsova, Yelena Sinyavskaya, Natalia Tamelo, Switter Boys. 

BTRC received over 100 applications for its 2014 Eurovision national selection. During the span of 2 days a special jury which included the 2013 Belarusian Eurovision representative evaluated all the bidding entries and acts via a special audition and shortlisted the number to 15. After the withdrawal of Alexei Gross a total of 14 acts will battle for the golden ticket to Copenhagen.

The 2014 Belarusian national final will be aired live on January 10 on Belarus 1. The 2014 Belarusian Eurovision entry and representative will be selected via a mixed jury/televoting deliberation. Ms Olga Shlager will be yet again be in charge of the Belarusian national selection, having organized the 2013 Belarusian Eurovision national selection.

Belarus debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2004 and is yet to win the event. The country’s best result in the contest was in 2007 with Koldun‘s Work your magic, when Belarus placed 6th.

Alyona Lanskaya represented Belarus at the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest with Solayoh achieving a 16th place in the grand final.

The 2014 Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Denmark on 6, 8, 10 May. Stay tuned to esctoday.com for the latest information on Belarus and the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest.