Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko blamed the Russian Federation for the 2010 air crash that led to the death of former Polish president Lech Kaczyński.
The plane crash on 10 April 2010 near Smolensk, Russia, was the most tragic event in Poland’s most recent history.
Apart from Kaczyński, the twin brother of the currently ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party leader Jarosław Kaczyński, it left dead 95 other members of Poland’s delegation on the anniversary of the Soviet murder of Polish military officers in 1940, including then-first lady, ministers and members of parliament.
Asked in the interview by Gordonua.com Ukrainian news outlet, about the Russian involvement in the death of his then-Polish counterpart, Yushchenko said “he was convinced” that it was the Kremlin responsible for the plane crash. He added that he perceived Kaczyński as “a clever president with an ability to look over the horizon.”
Yushchenko said Kaczyński was a proponent of the Polish role as the regional political leader and an advocate of Ukraine that would make Europe “accessible” for Kyiv.
The 2010 Smolensk plane crash remains a bone of contention in Polish politics.
While most reports found it a result of human mistakes and technical defects, many in PiS, including Jarosław Kaczyński, believe it was a plot by Russian President Vladimir Putin and then-prime minister Donald Tusk, later European Council President, who had difficult relations with both Kaczyński brothers.
As president, Lech Kaczyński often pointed to the threats related to Moscow’s increasingly aggressive policy. While his brother Jarosław is considered by many in Europe in Europe a highly controversial figure, an ally of Viktor Orbán, Giorgia Meloni and other far-right politicians and the one who dragged Poland into the conflict with the European Commission over the rule of law, Lech is appreciated for his awareness of the Kremlin’s intentions.
Wolfgang Schäuble, a member of the German CDU party and former federal minister, recently told Der Tagesspiegel that Kaczyński was right in his famous statement after the Russian invasion of Georgia that “first Georgia (may be the victim of Moscow’s aggression), then Ukraine, next the Baltic states and finally maybe Poland.”
(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | EURACTIV.pl)
Source: euractiv.com
