Plaque; photo - EPASpokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Warsaw, Marcin Bosacki, told the Radio Information Agency (IAR) that the plaque will be brought back to Poland shortly, most probably within a week.
From Smolensk it will be taken to the Polish embassy in Moscow and then to Warsaw.
Bosacki said the plaque is to be returned to the Katyn 2010 Association, which originally placed it on the memorial stone at the site of the tragedy six months ago.
The plaque was replaced on the eve of the one year anniversary of the crash, just before the planned wreath laying ceremony at Smolensk by the victims’’ families and the Polish and Russian presidents, Bronislaw Koomorowski and Dmitri Medvedev.
The Russian said the plaque’s original inscription had been only in Polish and the action was to add a Russian translation of the text.
However, the new inscription had the purpose of the of the visit by the Polish presidential delegation killed at Smolensk deleted.
The phrase “who had been on their way to Katyn for the 70th anniversary of the Soviet genocide of Polish officers” was removed from both language versions.
This caused an uproar of protest from the Katyn 2010 Association and a group of the victims’ families.
General honouredMeanwhile, General Franciszek Gagor, one of 96 to die in the crash last April, has been posthumously awarded one of the highest Canadian military distinctions.
The ceremony of presenting the cross of merit to the widow and daughter of the late Polish general was held at the General Staff Headquarters of the Polish Armed Forces in Warsaw.
Canadian General Walter J. Natynczyk, who recalled the late Chief of Staff, stressed his achievements as an outstanding commander and a personal friend. General Gagor’s contribution to the development process of NATO and strengthening relations between the Canadian and Polish military were also reminded.
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