Reuters/Warsaw
Several thousand far-right activists chanted anti-government slogans in Warsaw yesterday as they gathered to honour Poland’s former president Lech Kaczynski, who died in a plane crash in Russia in 2010 along with many of the country’s ruling elite.Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the late president’s twin and leader of Poland’s main opposition party, addressed the crowds, who were waving Polish flags and holding banners saying “It was not an accident”.“They (the passengers) were betrayed ... the whole truth will only see the light of the day when we regain power,” Kaczynski, who heads the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS), said on the second anniversary of the crash.The chief of Poland’s armed forces, the head of its navy, its central bank governor and lawmakers were among those killed as the plane was attempting to land in thick fog in Smolensk in western Russia.Kaczynski, known for its deep distrust of the Kremlin, has repeatedly said that Russia bore responsibility for the air crash, which killed all 96 people on board.Earlier this week he said he was “increasingly convinced” the crash was the result of an attack after a report by his party showed two explosions shook the plane before it hit the ground.Warsaw is at loggerheads with Moscow over the reasons behind the crash and the dispute has overshadowed a cautious rapprochement between the two neighbours.An earlier Russian probe put the blame solely on the Polish side, but Poland has argued that Russian ground controllers in Smolensk also contributed to the crash.Despite an initial outpouring of compassion among Russians, the aftermath of the crash has weighed on the already-strained relations between the two countries.Warsaw accuses Moscow of not showing good will to return the wreckage, which still sits at Smolensk airport.“The question of passing on to the Polish side the wreckage of the crashed plane, which is evidence in a criminal case, will be considered after the end of the investigation,” Russia’s Investigative Committee said yesterday.But the committee – Russia’s top federal investigative body – added that it was now ready to discuss procedural aspects of the transfer of the plane’s debris to Poland.Sergei Naryshkin, the speaker at Russia’s State Duma lower chamber of parliament, also said in Smolensk yesterday that a lot of evidence has already been examined in the probe, but did not say when the investigation might be concluded.