Poland Bars Russia’s Night Wolves Motorcycle Club

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/25/world/europe/poland-bars-russias-night-wolves-motorcycle-club.html

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WARSAW — The Polish Foreign Ministry said Friday that it would deny entry to several dozen members of a Russian motorcycle club closely tied to the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, who had planned to pass through Poland on their way to commemorate the end of World War II in Berlin on May 9.

Members of the Night Wolves club, known for its fervent nationalistic politics, had planned to leave Moscow and ride through Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria and Germany, raising concerns that heightened tension between Russia and its western neighbors over the Ukraine crisis could provoke violence.

A note from the Russian Embassy in Warsaw requesting permission for the group to pass through Poland was received only six days ago, said Marcin Wojciechowski, a spokesman for the Polish Foreign Ministry.

“It was too late,” he said. “The note was imprecise. It did not include the information on the rally’s route, the number of participants and their place of accommodation. We asked repeatedly that they provide us with this information, but to no avail.”

A spokesman for the embassy said the decision was unwarranted. “In the last week, we have repeatedly provided Polish authorities with detailed information on the route and timing of movements of Russian motorcyclists,” the spokesman told RIA Novosti, a Russian news agency.

Mr. Wojciechowski said the decision had nothing to do with political tensions between Moscow and Warsaw.

“We needed this information to make sure that the participants of the rally were safe,” he said.

While the Night Wolves will be stopped at the Belarus border, Mr. Wojciechowski said, a smaller motorcycle club will be allowed to cross from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad to the nearby Polish town of Braniewo on Saturday to attend a long-planned ceremony at a cemetery for Soviet soldiers.