The Belarusian State Television and Radio Company is against the new format of the Eurovision Song Contest including two semi finals. Thanks to Koldun's 6th place in Helsinki, Belarus would have been directly qualified for the final for the first time.
Yury Azaronak, deputy chairman of the BTRC,opposes the new format:"Thanks to the successful performance by Dmitry Kaldun, we were in the final, but now we have to begin everything from scratch." Superviser of the contest Svante Stockselius reacted to the reproaches stating that the new rules are fairer: "We believe that if you have a good song one year it is not necessarily that you will have a good song the next year. With the two semi-finals now, everybody must go to a semi-final."
Once more, it should be observed that the rules for the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest did not guarantee countries finishing in the top ten an automatic place in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest final.
