President Kaczynski of Poland killed in plane crash

Tragic news out of Eastern Europe this morning as the plane carrying Polich President Lech Kaczynki and 88 others — including many top Polish officials — crashed in heavy fog in Western Russia.  The crash came as a staggering blow to Poland, wiping out a large swath of the country’s leadership, including the commanders of ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.
Sean Gallup/Getty Image
Sean Gallup/Getty Image
Sean Gallup/Getty Image

Tragic news out of Eastern Europe this morning as the plane carrying Polich President Lech Kaczynki and 88 others -- including many top Polish officials -- crashed in heavy fog in Western Russia. 

Tragic news out of Eastern Europe this morning as the plane carrying Polich President Lech Kaczynki and 88 others — including many top Polish officials — crashed in heavy fog in Western Russia. 

The crash came as a staggering blow to Poland, wiping out a large swath of the country’s leadership, including the commanders of all four branches of the military, the head of the central bank, the president and many of his top advisors. 

The officials were on their way to a ceremony commemorating another tragedy, the massacre of 2o,000 Polish officers by Soviet secret police in the woods of Katyn. Former President Aleksandr Kwasniewski probably spoke for many Poles:

“It is a damned place. It sends shivers down my spine. First the flower of the Second Polish Republic is murdered in the forests around Smolensk, now the intellectual elite of the Third Polish Republic die in this tragic plane crash when approaching Smolensk airport. This is a wound which will be very difficult to heal,” he said.

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

More from Foreign Policy

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping give a toast during a reception following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping give a toast during a reception following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21.

Can Russia Get Used to Being China’s Little Brother?

The power dynamic between Beijing and Moscow has switched dramatically.

Xi and Putin shake hands while carrying red folders.
Xi and Putin shake hands while carrying red folders.

Xi and Putin Have the Most Consequential Undeclared Alliance in the World

It’s become more important than Washington’s official alliances today.

Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

It’s a New Great Game. Again.

Across Central Asia, Russia’s brand is tainted by Ukraine, China’s got challenges, and Washington senses another opening.

Kurdish military officers take part in a graduation ceremony in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, on Jan. 15.
Kurdish military officers take part in a graduation ceremony in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, on Jan. 15.

Iraqi Kurdistan’s House of Cards Is Collapsing

The region once seemed a bright spot in the disorder unleashed by U.S. regime change. Today, things look bleak.