Translated material
Heading to Smolensk
Poles will make a pilgrimage to the site of the plane crash
Tomorrow a list of almost two hundred Poles intending to visit Smolensk on October 10 will be published - exactly six months after the crash of the presidential plane on April 10 , in which 96 people died, including head of state Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria. All of them were heading to Katyn for mourning events associated with the 70th anniversary of the execution of Polish officers by the NKVD.Now the relatives and friends of the victims of the plane crash will go to Smolensk. They will be accompanied by psychologists, doctors and clergy of various faiths. Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the twin brother of the deceased president, has not yet expressed his desire to join them.
The relatives of the 28 victims, who initiated the unusual pilgrimage, asked the wife of President Bronislaw Komorowski, Anna, to help organize it. The first lady not only agreed, but also decided to take part in the trip. Her husband supported the decision “with all my heart, with all my soul.”
At first, it was planned to repeat the route of the presidential plane with a landing at Severny Airport, near which the tragedy occurred. But the Ministry of National Defense advised, for security reasons, to use the airfield in Belarusian Vitebsk, where two Polish flights will be sent. Some of the guests will arrive in Smolensk from Poland by train. Then commemorative events, including an ecumenical service, will be held at the site of the disaster and in the city. Following this, all participants in the trip will head to Katyn.
One of the initiators of the pilgrimage, Pavel Deresh, told the press that “a meeting between the spouses of the presidents of Poland and Russia could take place in Smolensk.” The arrival of Svetlana Medvedeva is also being talked about unofficially in the administration of the President of Poland, but there is no final confirmation yet.
The organizers of the event really want the trip to bring together the relatives and friends of the victims of the plane crash. But there are fears that this could be prevented by the “cross of discord” - the same one that was installed near the presidential palace during national mourning and turned from a religious symbol into a political one. As a result, he was moved to the chapel of the presidential palace. The day after tomorrow, the trip participants will decide by open vote whether to take this cross with them to Smolensk, because in addition to the difference of opinions, there are also purely technical issues related to transportation.
Meanwhile, part of the Polish media constantly questions the conclusions of the investigation about the causes of the plane crash and excites public opinion. Yesterday, the weekly Gazeta Polska asked about the fate of “those wounded in the April 10 disaster.” The generally accepted version of the tragedy is that there were no survivors at the crash site. However, the publication referred to certain secret documents from the prosecutor's office, which are based on witness testimony about three ambulances that left the scene of the tragedy with the siren turned on. “This means there must have been wounded, because the dead are not transported in ambulances with sirens and flashing lights,” the weekly concluded.
On Wednesday, it became public knowledge that Jaroslaw Kaczynski, as the leader of Poland's largest opposition party Law and Justice (PiS), had sent letters attacking Russia to dozens of foreign ambassadors and all members of the European Parliament. Yesterday, however, from his own words it turned out that he “did not write letters to anyone.” But on the PiS website an article “Allies and Values” appeared, signed by him and with an explanation that the material was sent to foreign politicians and influential persons translated into English.
A lot is said about Russia in this essay by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, and this is by no means a continuation of the video message “To Russian friends”, which the politician read with a meek look during the presidential campaign. Then, in early May, the brother of the tragically deceased Lech Kaczynski spoke heartfeltly about compassion and sympathy on the part of Russians after the Smolensk disaster, and convinced of the need for changes for the better in relations between the two Slavic states.
In the current article by Jaroslaw Kaczynski there is no hint of this, but there are calls for the West to strengthen the alliance against Russia, which is supposedly consistently restoring its zone of influence, “a fact that American and European politicians often ignore.” The author regrets that the United States is reducing its presence in Europe and has abandoned plans to build its missile defense facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic. The leader of the opposition is also alarmed by the deepening cooperation with Russia of the largest European countries “dictated by economic interests”, because this “entails serious political consequences and a reduction in the role of the European Union.”
The Polish Gazeta Wyborcza noted ironically: “With this publication, Jaroslaw Kaczynski certainly achieved one goal. “He reminded many Western European and American politicians how poorly they remembered Poland when it was ruled by PiS.”