Close allies: Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili with President Kaczynski. photo - TVP

A leading Polish newspaper has obtained witness statements that indicate that the late President Lech Kaczynski did indeed put pressure on pilots to land during a  trip to Tbilisi at the height of the Russian-Georgian conflict of 2008.

One of the pilots on board was Captain Arkadiusz Protasiuk, who would later perish in the Smolensk tragedy of April 2010.

The hand-written documents were obtained by the Gazeta Wyborcza daily. According to the paper, Captain Grzegorz Pietruczak noted that consistent pressure placed on him to redirect his route.

On August 12 2008, President Kaczynski was due to fly to the city of Ganja, Azerbaijan, and then to Tibilisi by motor convoy.

During the flight, several visits to the cockpit were made, first by General Zaleski.

“General Zaleski tried to impel me to change the decision and turn the flight directly to Tbilisi,” the pilot wrote.

Pietruczak held that there was no radar at Tbilisi, the airport was not prepared and there was too much risk of being shot down.

‘I declined, and the general asked whether the second pilot, Captain Arkadiusz Protasiuk, could take on my responsibilities and carry out the flight to Tbilisi.’

However, Protasiuk had not completed enough air miles to clear him for the job.

Next, President Kaczynski came into the cabin, urging the pilot to fly direct to Tbilisi.

Captain Pietruczak refused once again. Kaczynski then rung Minister of Defence, Bogdan Klich, asking if he could overule the pilot. Klich declined.

After disembarking at Ganja, Azerbaijan, Kaczynski allegedly addressed Captain Pietruczak with a curt statement:

‘I’ll settle my accounts with you one day,” the president apparently told the pilot. (nh)