Belarus turns Polish officials away from border

WARSAW, Aug 15 (Reuters) Senior Polish politicians said today they had been denied entry to Belarus, the latest in a series of diplomatic incidents pitting the ex-Soviet state under President Alexander Lukashenko against its Western neighbour.

Belarus's security service, still known by its Soviet-era name the KGB, said the Poles had sought to provoke an incident to secure publicity ahead of an early election likely to take place in the coming months.

Relations have periodically been tense over Belarus's treatment of its 400,000-strong ethnic Polish minority, accused by Lukashenko of fomenting dissent in his country of 10 million.

The Polish politicians were headed for Polish Army Day celebrations in the town of Grodno, home to many ethnic Poles and part of Poland before World War Two.

Among those barred was a delegation representing Poland's leading opposition party, the pro-business Civic Platform, headed by leader Donald Tusk. Deputy senate speaker Krzysztof Putra had been turned away from the border earlier in the day.

''They gave no reason. I had to wait about 50 minutes while the guards phoned their superiors and then told me I could not enter Belarus,'' Putra, also denied entry earlier this year, said on TVN24 television.

The station said Polish presidential adviser Michal Dworcyzk had been detained in Belarus during a police roadside check.

Belarus's official BELTA news agency quoted an unidentified KGB official as saying the Poles had acted deliberately.

''Several high-ranking Polish politicians, who are barred from Belarus ... wanted to organise a provocative act on the Polish-Belarussian border by trying to enter our country,'' the KGB official was quoted as saying.

''These politicians knew full well that they will be denied entry but still went on with their pre-planned scandal.'' The official said the Poles wanted to ''engage in activity with the illegitimate wing of the Union of Belarussian Poles''.

Lukashenko, popular at home, is accused in the West of crushing fundamental rights, closing down independent media and rigging elections. He and several dozen officials are barred from entering the United States and European Union.

In 2005, Belarussian riot police seized the Polish community's offices in Grodno, ousted the group's leaders and forced the election of more loyal executives. That incident prompted each country to expel the other's diplomats.

Visiting Polish officials have periodically been denied entry to Belarus or subjected to harassment.

REUTERS RSA RN2332