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Russian bikers plan to create clubs of their fellow supporters in Europe

The idea was prompted by a recent incident involving the Night Wolves who intended to send its bikers to EU countries but who were turned away by the authorities of a number of EU countries

© stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS

MOSCOW, May 7. /TASS/. Alexander Zaldostanov - leader of the biggest Russian bikers' club - The Night Wolves, intends to create branch departments of the Russian bikers’ club in Europe, Izvestia daily said in Thursday's issue.

The idea was prompted by a recent incident involving the Night Wolves who intended to send its bikers to EU countries in the framework of the Paths of Glory VE-Day project, but who were turned away by the authorities of a number of EU countries, above all, Poland and Germany. Warsaw and Berlin are the first cities where the Night Wolves intend to open their offices, the newspaper said.

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The policy of the Polish and German authorities, who denied permission to the Russian bikers to cross their state borders and who annulled the bikers' visas, aroused numerous protests in Poland and Germany. Many people in these countries expressed their solidarity with the bikers and suggested that The Night Wolves should create their national clubs in their respective countries. The Russian Club has approved the idea, the newspaper said, citing the Night Wolves' leader. "As a matter of fact we are going to create our offices in Europe, above all, in Warsaw and Berlin. Dozens of applications from volunteers have arrived, asking to join. The more pressure their authorities put on us, the more underhand things they do, the better the people appreciate our unbreakable position and want to join us. It is quite logical. Many citizens of Russian descent, but also German and Polish citizens, want to join our clubs in Europe," Izvestia daily quoted Zaldostanov as saying.

In the end of April the German authorities decided to annul the visas earlier issued to participants in a car race devoted to the 70th anniversary of victory in WWII. In May, a biker from the Night Wolves Club, Yuri Vasilyev, was detained in Germany despite the fact that he had arrived in the EU legally. Nevertheless, the German authorities annulled his German visa. The Night Wolves Club intends to file a lawsuit, challenging the act of the German authorities as illegal.

The car race set off from Moscow on April 25. The bikers were to visit Minsk, Breast Bratislava, Wroclaw, Prague, Munich and other cities in the framework of a two-week mission devoted to the 70th anniversary of victory in WWII. The bikers planned to arrive in Berlin on May 9. " It is obvious that not all the bikers, who had been planning to reach Berlin on the historic date, will be able to do that," the newspaper said.

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