Anna FotygaA former foreign minister of Poland has reacted to what she says is the humiliation that Poland has been subject to after the Russian report into the Smolensk air disaster, which blamed pilot error for the crash that killed President Kaczynski last April.
Referring to Prime Minister Donald Tusk as “Russia’s lackey” former head of diplomacy in the Law and Justice government (May 2006 – Nov 2007) Anna Fotyga has written on her party’s web site: “Today, our faces are wet. Is it tears or has someone spat in our face?”
Fotyga refers to Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov when she writes: “A lower ranking official of a foreign country gave orders to the Polish PM before the eyes of the whole world and the Polish PM obeyed them […].”
Following the publication of the report by Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) into the Smolensk disaster last week, Foreign Minister Lavrov referred to speculation and conspiracy theories as to the cause of the crash last year as “unethical”.
Fotyga appears to accuse Prime Minister Tusk of appearing in the media minutes after the statement and agreeing with the Russian foreign minister, when, she says, Tusk referred to the speculation as “a sin”.
“Today, our faces are wet. Is it tears or has someone spit in our face?” asks Fotyga, alluding to Poles having been disgraced by Russians.
Fotyga also writes that in his statement concerning the Russian report on the Smolensk air disaster PM Donald Tusk “again, indirectly discredited the bravest Polish president [i.e. Lech Kaczynski].”
Fotyga criticised the presentation of the Smolensk report by the Russian Interstate Aviation Committee as “a staged show” and “a large-scale disinformation campaign which slanders Poland.”
Anna Fotyga concludes: “What kind of words should one use to make Poles understand how dangerous the present situation is? It’s time to wake up. Fear and helplessness lead to tragedies.”
‘Assassination’
Alternative theories continue to emerge, however, into the cause of the crash which killed many top politicians from the Law and Justice party in western Russia.
Lawyer Marcin Dubieniecki, husband of Marta Kaczynska, the daughter of the late President Lech Kaczynski, claims that the crash was not the result of pilot error or an accident.
“We are close to having information that [it was an assassination]. It’s not speculation,” says Dubieniecki.
“The potential victory of Lech Kaczynski in presidential elections, revenge for [his support for] Georgia [in its war with Russia] and policy towards the EU might have been reasons why Russia would like to assassinate President Lech Kaczynski,” says Dubieniecki.
“Each nation has its symbols. One of them is a president. We all know what our president’s eastern policy was,” added Dubieniecki, who claims that Marta Kaczynska shares his opinion.
According to Dubieniecki, Arkadiusz Protasiuk, the pilot of the doomed Tu-154, did not want to land at Severny airport near Smolensk on 10 April “at any price”, as the Russian Interstate Aviation Committee maintains in its report, but tried to redirect the plane to another landing spot.
Dubieniecki’s opinion is based, he claims, on the findings of the Polish Central Criminal Laboratory. (pg/mg)