Belarus charges five with spying for Poland

MINSK, July 16 (Reuters) Belarus has charged four officers of its armed forces and one Russian officer with spying for Poland, state television said.

It said the late yesterday four Belarussians, arrested in January, and the Russian sold secret information to Poland on a joint Russian and Belarussian air defence system.

Ex-Soviet Belarus has tense relations with its neighbour and NATO member Poland and Minsk has previously announced it had uncovered Polish spy rings.

"The criminal spying activity has been fully proved," deputy head of Belarussian KGB security service, Dmitry Vegera, said of the latest incident in televised comments.

"Thanks to timely action (by security forces) Belarus suffered no harm to its defence capabilities," he added.

State television said that after the four Belarussians were arrested, the Russian turned himself in to Russia's FSB security service. It was not clear whether the Russian was under arrest, and there was no immediate reaction from Russia. Two of the arrested were shown confessing their guilt.

Under Belarussian law, spying can incur the death penalty although there have been no reports of the penalty ever having been applied.

Reuters SW DS1403