Lech Walesa; photo - PR

With over a year passed since the death of President Lech Kaczynski in the Smolensk air disaster, former president Lech Walesa has come out against any special monument being built for the late head of state, saying “he does not deserve a monument”.

The conflict between Lech Kaczynski and the Solidarity leader dates back to the early days of Walesa’s presidency, immediately after the fall of communism in 1989.

With a year passing since the death of Lech Kaczynski, Walesa obviously feels liberated to criticise the late president.

Walesa made his remarks at a press conference in Gdansk, declaring that Kaczynski had “failed” as a president.

“He created conflict and offended all his neighbours,” Walesa said.

“He did a lot of stamping of his foot, but stamping does not make Russia run away,” he continued, commenting on President Kaczynski’s suspicion of modern-day Moscow’s foreign policy and particularly what he regarded as the Kremlin’s aggression towards Georgia in 2008.

“Sure, he waved his sabre around, and that appealed to certain people., but this didn't help Poland,” Walesa said on Thursday.

The issue of what monument would be appropriate to commemorate the memory of Lech Kaczynski has been one of the flash points between the ruling Civic Platform party and the Law and Justice opposition.

Walesa said that twin brother of the late president, Jaroslaw Kaczynski  - the leader of the Law and Justice party - should not champion a monument, as it was likely to be defaced, and that would be “unpleasant.” (pg/kk)