Polish president plane crash photo

Polish president dies in plane crash

Lech Kaczynski Profile

Lech Kaczynski has been a controversial figure on the world stage but his right-wing stance on many issues has found ready reception among many Poles, especially traditionalist and rural voters.

Throughout his political career, he has not been not afraid to appeal to populist sentiments. As mayor of Warsaw, he twice banned gay parades and spoke in support of reintroducing the death penalty.

He was elected as Poland's president in 2005 as candidate of the Law and Justice Party.

During the campaign, Mr Kaczynski insisted Poles needed a president who would stand up for their interests.

He said post-communist Poland, often called the "Third Republic", needed radical transformation into a "Fourth Republic", based on social justice and a strong state.

The Law and Justice party, which stresses the traditional values of the Roman Catholic Church, was founded by him and his twin brother, Jaroslaw, in 2001.

The brothers shot to fame at the age of 12 as stars in the film "Two boys who stole the moon".

Lech followed his brother into the anti-government movement in the late 1970s and served as an adviser to the strike committee at the Gdansk shipyard during the August 1980 Solidarity-led protests.

The brothers found themselves outside mainstream politics in the early 1990s after falling out with the Solidarity leader, by now Polish president, Lech Walesa.

Following the 2005 election, Poland had two Kaczynskis holding the reins of power - Lech as president and Jaroslaw as prime minister.

Since 2007, however, President Kaczynski has had to work with Donald Tusk, who was his defeated rival in the presidential poll two years earlier.

He asked Mr Tusk to form a government after the victory of his centre-right Civic Platform in elections in October 2007.

Under the Polish constitution, the president has fewer powers than the prime minister, but has a significant say in foreign policy.

Mr Kaczynski, 60, is married with one daughter.

His father was a World War II resistance fighter.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski 'in plane crash'

Polish President Lech Kaczynski and scores of others are believed to have been killed in a plane crash in Russia.

Officials in the Smolensk region said no-one had survived after the plane apparently hit trees as it came in for landing in thick fog.

Several other government figures, including the army chief of staff, were also thought to have been on board.

They were in Russia to mark the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, when the Soviets killed thousands of Poles.

The BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw says the crash is a catastrophe for the Polish people.

He says Prime Minister Donald Tusk was reportedly in tears when he was told.

Plane 'hit trees'

The Russian emergencies ministry told Itar-Tass news agency the plane crashed at 1056 Moscow time (0656 GMT).

Ministry spokeswoman Irina Andrianova said it had been flying from Moscow to Smolensk, but had no details on the identities of those killed.

Smolensk regional governor Sergei Antufiev told Russian TV that no-one had survived.

"As it was preparing for landing, the Polish president's aircraft did not make it to the landing strip," he said.

"According to preliminary reports, it got caught up in the tops of trees, fell to the ground and broke up into pieces. There are no survivors in that crash.

"We are clarifying how many people there were in the [Polish] delegation. According to preliminary reports, 85 members of the delegation and the crew."

Russian investigators said there were a total of 132 people on the plane.

Controversial figure

The president was flying in a Tupolev 154, a plane that was designed in the 1960s and capable of carrying more than 100 passengers.

Our correspondent says there had been calls for Polish leaders to upgrade their planes.

As well as the president and his wife, Maria, a number of senior officials were also said to be on the passenger list.

They included the army chief of staff Gen Franciszek Gagor, central bank governor Slawomir Skrzypek and deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Kremer.

Mr Kaczynski has been a controversial figure in Polish politics, advocating a right-wing Catholic agenda.

He has opposed rapid free-market reforms and favoured retaining social welfare programmes.

Polish President dies in plane crash

Polish President Lech Kaczynski was killed when a plane carrying 132 people crashed in thick fog on its approach to a Russian airport this morning, killing everyone on board, officials said.

Central bank governor Slawomir Skrzypek and several senior government officials were also among those on board the Tupolev Tu-154 plane, which came down as it neared Smolensk airport in western Russia.

Smolensk regional governor Sergei Antufyev, speaking on Russian television, said there were no survivors. Polish state news agency PAP also reported that there were no survivors.

Television pictures showed the burning fuselage and fragments of the plane scattered in a forest. The crash occurred about 2 km (1.3 miles) from Smolensk airport.

"The plane caught fire after the crash. Teams began attempting to pull out passengers from the badly damaged airplane," said a Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman in Warsaw.

Kaczynski's wife Maria was also on board, along with several high-ranking government officials. They included the chief of Poland's military Franciszek Gagor and Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Kremer.

In the case of a president's death, the speaker of the lower chamber of parliament, Bronislaw Komorowski, takes over as head of state, Komorowski's assistant Jerzy Smolinski, told Reuters.

Kaczynski had been flying to Katyn, near Smolensk, to commemorate Russian and Polish victims of Soviet leader Josef Stalin.

Thousands of Polish prisoners of war and intellectuals were murdered at Katyn by Soviet forces in spring 1940 in an enduring symbol for Poles of their suffering under Soviet rule.

Families of those killed at Katyn were also on board the plane, the Polish government official at the airport said.

Polish president dies in plane crash

President Lech Kaczynski and his wife died Saturday along with 130 others when their plane crashed while coming in for a landing in western Russia, officials said.

The governor of the Smolensk region, where the crash took place about 11 a.m. (0700 GMT), said no one survived.

The fuselage of the plane lies in woodland near Smolensk airport

"The Polish presidential plane did not make it to the runway while landing. Tentative findings indicate that it hit the treetops and fell apart," Sergei Anufriev said on state news channel Rossiya-24. "Nobody has survived the disaster."

The Polish foreign ministry confirmed that Kaczynski and his wife were aboard the plane.

The head of Russia's top investigative body, Sergei Markin, said there were a total of 132 people on the plane, a Tu-154.

Kaczynski was flying to Russia for events marking the 70th anniversary of the massacre of thousands of Polish officers by Soviet secret police in Katyn and elsewhere during World War II.

The presidential plane was a Soviet-built Tupolev TU154M, at least 20 years old. The Army chief of staff, Gen. Franciszek Gagor, National Bank President Slawomir Skrzypek and Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Kremoer were on the passenger list.

In Warsaw, Prime Minister Donald Tusk called an extraordinary meeting of his Cabinet.

Kaczynski, 60, became president in December 2005 after defeating Tusk in that year's presidential vote.

The nationalist conservative was the twin brother of Poland's opposition leader, former Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

Kaczynski had said he would seek a second term in presidential elections this fall. He was expected to face an uphill struggle against Parliament speaker Bronislaw Komorowski, the candidate of Tusk's governing Civic Platform party.

According to the constitution, Komorowski would take over presidential duties.

Polish president and first lady among 132 dead in presidential plane crash in Russia

Baku – APA. Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife were killed when the presidential plane crashed near an airport in western Russia, APA reports.

A total of 132 people were on board the Tupolev 154 aircraft, according to the Russian Investigation Committee. The governor of Smolensk Oblast confirmed there were no survivors in the accident, which happened several hundred meters from the runway of Smolensk Airport. The plane was on approach to Smolensk (LNX) from Warsaw in heavy fog. Reports indicate the plane may have been attempting a go-around when it hit trees and burst into flames.
According to media reports, the head of the Polish Army and former Polish president Ryszard Kaczorowski were also on board. Confirmation was not immediately available.


President Kaczynski was on an official visit to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, when Soviet troops killed thousands of Poles.

Polish president dead

President Lech Kaczynski was travelling with his wife from Warsaw to Smolensk airport, 220 miles southwest of Moscow.

Sergei Antufiev, the regional governor of the Smolensk, said that everyone on board had been killed.

"It clipped the tops of the trees, crashed down and broke into pieces," Mr Antufiev, told Russia-24 television news network by telephone. "There were no survivors." Polish state news agency PAP also said there were no survivors.

Conditions around the airport were described as foggy when the Tupolev Tu-154 came down a mile from the airport.

A Polish government official said the head of the Polish army and the head of the presidential administration were also on board the plane, along with the president's wife and families of other senior officials.

The plane was also carrying the governor of Poland's central bank, Slawomir Skrzypek.

Mr Kaczynski, 60, has been president since December 2005. He is married with one daughter.