Georgia has pulled out of the Eurovision Song Contest after organisers banned it from entering an act that mocked Vladimir Putin.

It rejected an offer to revise the lyrics to We Don’t Wanna Put In, whose chorus played on the Russian Prime Minister’s surname, after the disco song was ruled to have broken Eurovision regulations against political statements.

The song, performed by Stephane and 3G, was seen as a protest against Russia over its war with Georgia in the breakaway region of South Ossetia last August. Georgian officials denied that it was a political statement and refused to consider an alternative entry for the contest.

“We have decided not to change the lyrics or choose a different song. We will not go to Moscow and will not take part in Eurovision 2009,” said Natia Uznadze, a producer at Georgian public television, which organised the national contest in which viewers chose the entry.

“It’s still not clear to us why Eurovision took this decision. We have not received a concrete explanation.”

The performers' producer, Kakhaber Tsiskaridze, said that Eurovision had succumbed to “unacceptable” political pressure from Russia. At the same time, he denied that the song had been aimed at Mr Putin. “Where in the lyrics are there any political statements or insults to someone?” he asked.

Georgia declared initially that it would boycott the Moscow contest in protest at the war. But it changed its mind and viewers voted for We Don’t Wanna Put In from ten entries in a contest screened last month.

The kitschy Seventies-style number, sung in English, contains the chorus “We don’t wanna put in/The negative move/It’s killin’ the groove” and goes on to declare “You better change your perspective”.

The trio of female singers in 3G mimed being shot in the head during their winning performance as they sang the line “Gonna try to shoot in/some disco tonight”. Stephane Mgebrishvili, the songwriter, then rapped: “I love Europe.”

While the provocative choice was popular with Georgians, Eurovision organisers declared yesterday that the song failed to comply with rules barring “lyrics, speeches, [and] gestures of a political or similar nature”.

Georgia would have had to compete in a semi-final heat for a place in the Eurovision final on May 16, which Russia is hosting for the first time. Its entry attracted angry comments on Eurovision’s official website from Russians who accused Georgia of abusing the competition to insult Mr Putin.

Russia’s own Eurovision entry is also embroiled in controversy after a Ukrainian singer, Anastasia Prikhodko, was chosen to represent the country on Saturday. Her song, Mamo, is sung in Russian and Ukrainian.

One losing finalist claimed that the selection process had been rigged and complained that the choice of Ms Prikhodko, whose entry had been rejected in her native Ukraine, was a “disgrace”. Hundreds of Russians left complaints on the Eurovision site, with one urging protestors to write to President Medvedev to change the selection.

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