All news

Russian members of VE Day motorbike rally not allowed into Poland

A group of Russian bikers was not allowed into Poland "on suspicion of being members of an extremist organization," a motorbike club member said

SKOPJE, May 1. /TASS/. Russian members of the motorcycle rally "Roads of Victory-to Berlin," organized by Russia’s Night Wolves bikers, who planned to visit WWII memorials in Poland were not allowed into the country, a Night Wolves spokesman told TASS Monday.

"A group of Russian bikers was not allowed into Poland on suspicion of being members of an extremist organization," Yevgeny Strogov said, adding that participants from other European states, including Belarus, were allowed to enter the country.

The international motorcycle rally "Roads of Victory- to Berlin" kicked off in Moscow on April 27. Over the past three days, its participants have crossed the Smolensk region in Russia and Belarus.

The bikers carry the flags of Russia, Poland and other countries. They will visit Warsaw, Wroclaw and Oswiecim, and later Germany's Berlin, where the rally will be over on May 9.

On Sunday, Night Wolves bikers from different countries paid tribute to Polish defenders at the Unknown Soldier’s Tomb in central Warsaw and then laid flowers at the military cemetery for Soviet soldiers and observed a moment of silence.

In the past few years, Russian members of the club were not allowed to cross the border between Belarus and Poland. Polish border guards and diplomats denied them access to the European territory, citing security reasons.