Anniversary of Polish crash over Smolensk

[mendeleyev]

10 April 2010
The Mendeleyev Journal

(Warsaw) Poles across the world on Sunday mourned former president Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria and 94 others killed in a plane crash one year ago while landing at Smolensk airport in Russia.

There was plenty of bitterness over the crash on a flight meant to commemorate the murder of 22,000 Polish army officers and intellectuals in Katyn forest near Smolensk, Russia in 1940. Poles, already angered by what they feel is a lack of accountability by Russian officials over the cause of the crash, were further offended by Russia’s removal of a memorial plaque at the site.

The plane crashed on 10 April 2010 in thick fog while trying to land in Smolensk. It was Poland’s worst disaster since World War II and the tragedy served to renew Poland’s historic mistrust about Russia, its former Cold War master. President Kaczynski’s brother, Jaroslaw, leads the right wing opposition party and blames Moscow for the crash.

Even in America, Poles are unhappy over Russia’s report on the crash that places the blame on the Polish pilots and absolves the Russian ground staff of responsibility. In reaction from Polish communities from Los Angeles to Chicago and in polls across Poland, clearly a majority of Poles feel the real reasons for the crash are being covered up by Russian investigators.

[mendeleyev]

11 April 2010
The Mendeleyev Journal

(Smolensk, Russia) Determined to set aside differences over the results of investigations from last year’s crash of the airplane carrying the late President of Poland and 95 others, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski paid tribute today (Monday) to the memory of the Smolensk tragedy victims.

The presidents of Russia and Poland laid wreaths at the monument marking the site of the crash of the Polish presidential plane one year ago and have indicated their agreement on the text for a new memorial for the plane crash that killed president Lech Kaczynski after bitter disagreements between the two countries over the replacement of a previous plaque.

The two presidents also visited the nearby Katyn memorial complex, where they laid wreaths at the Russian and Polish memorials.

Russia had replaced a Polish-language memorial at the site of the crash in Smolensk (Russia) which referred to the “genocide” of Polish officers by Soviet forces at the nearby Katyn forest at the start of World War II.

The current version, supplied by the Russians refers only to the April 10, 2010 air crash that killed Kaczynski and 95 other people who had been en route to Katyn, near Smolensk, to commemorate the Soviet-era massacre of some 22,000 Polish nationals by the Soviet secret police in 1940.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said today after talks with his Polish counterpart Bronislaw Komorowski in Smolensk that they agreed on “the creation of a special international group” who would design the memorial.

Medvedev added that the killing of the Polish officers was a “crime” for which the Soviet leadership bore sole responsibility.