World leaders reacted with grief as they expressed their condolences following the tragic death of Polish President Lech Kacyzynski, his wife and dozens high officials in a plane crash in Western Russia on Saturday morning.
U.S. President Barack Obama, personally called Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to express his “deepest condolences” to the people of Poland following the tragic deaths this morning.
“Today’s loss is devastating to Poland, to the United States, and to the world,” said Obama in a statement. “The United States cherishes its deep and abiding bonds with the people of Poland.”
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had a telephone conversation with the now acting head of state, Bronislav Komorowski, the speaker of the Polish parliament’s lower house, expressing his “profound condolences.”
In a statement, Medvedev said that an investigation was underway and that both nations would cooperate closely to determine the circumstances of the disaster. He has ordered Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin to establish a commission to investigate the causes of the tragedy.
Top European Union officials also extended their condolences following Lech Kaczynski’s his death.
“I want to express my heartfelt condolences to the families of the president and of the other victims, to Prime Minister Tusk and to the Polish people. I wish to convey to them the support of the European Union in these extremely painful circumstances,” said Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council.
Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, had a phone conversation with with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski in which she said “she wanted to express her sympathies to the family and friends of those who died.”
German chancellor Angela Merkel was deeply affected by the plane crash stating, “It was a political and human tragedy.”
“I know that all of his life was dedicated to the fight for Poland’s freedom and Europe’s freedom,” she said.
President of France Nicolas Sarkozy called Lech Kaczynski an “inexhaustible defender of the ideas he believed in.”
“He always fought with faith for the values of democracy, freedom and fight against totalitarianism,” French newspaper L'Express quoted Sarkozy as saying.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and dozens high officials died in a plane crash in the western Russia’s Smolensk city Saturday morning just before 11 a.m. Moscow time, while traveling to a Soviet victims memorial service in the Katyn forest located close by.
The plane clipped the treetops as it approached Severnyi airport in the city of Smolensk, and then crashed and burned in a fog-blanketed forest. All 97 on board were killed, according to Russia’s Emergency Ministry.
Most part of the Polish political elite were on the plane including ministers, members of Parliament, Polish clergy, historians, the directors of the national security service and other top officials.
Many people have gathered in front of Kaczynski’s presidential office in Warsaw, Poland, to mourn this tragedy, by lighting candles and laying wreaths. Many people were crying, so much that couldn’t speak, as the national flag was lowered to half-mast.
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