Poland's Presidental plane crashed in Russia - Pres confirmed dead

devil21

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Poland's President and his wife are confirmed as passengers. 132 confirmed dead, no survivors, including the President, Lech Kaczynski. Let the conspiracy theories begin!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_russi...5bl9icmVha2luZ19uZXdzBHNsawNicmVha2luZ25ld3M-

UPDATE
MOSCOW – The governor of a Russian region where a plane carrying Poland's president has crashed says there are no survivors.

Smolensk governor Sergei Anufriev made the statement to state news channel Rossiya-24 about an hour after the Saturday crash.

The Tu-154 plane crashed near the Smolensk airport, about 400 kilometers (275 miles) west of Moscow.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife were aboard the plane, according to the Polish foreign ministry.
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MOSCOW – Officials say a plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife has crashed in western Russia and that at least 87 people have been killed.

The Polish Foreign Ministry confirmed that the president and his wife were aboard the plane that crashed Saturday near the city of Smolensk.

A spokeswoman for Russia's Emergencies Ministry, Irina Andrianova, said 87 people were killed but she had no details on their identity.
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Longer update version
Polish 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 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.

Kaczynski's wife, Maria, was an economist. They had a daughter, Marta, and two granddaughters.
 
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Yes and many other high ranking officials were aboard as well, like the head of the Central Bank, many prominent politicians/congress people. I heard 130 people died...
 
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It's all over the news here. The biggest news sites were brought to their knees because of the traffic.

Are you in Poland? Was there any sense of something happening or is this really out-of-the-blue? Poland has been very much involved with the missile shield stuff between the US and Russia lately so the timing very interesting.
 
What a tragedy. From what I've heard Poland has been trending in a more libertarian direction, I hope this doesn't change that.
 
Are you in Poland? Was there any sense of something happening or is this really out-of-the-blue? Poland has been very much involved with the missile shield stuff between the US and Russia lately so the timing very interesting.

Yes I am. Well, one have to remember we have had endless political battles about buying new gov planes, because they've been using old Russian crap. But it never concluded and they were flying this old crap this time as well.

I do think it's an accident and a big tragedy (even though I didn't like this president etc.). They were going to Katyn massacre memorial and they all died there...
 
Yes I am. Well, one have to remember we have had endless political battles about buying new gov planes, because they've been using old Russian crap. But it never concluded and they were flying this old crap this time as well.

I do think it's an accident and a big tragedy (even though I didn't like this president etc.). They were going to Katyn massacre memorial and they all died there...

Good info. So what's the Presidential succession flow chart look like in Poland? Who takes over?

There definitely is geopolitical ramifications to this. Sorry for your loss...or at least as sorry as I can feel about a politician...
 
Good info. So what's the Presidential succession flow chart look like in Poland? Who takes over?

The House speaker takes over. We were actually going to have presidential elections this year (~October) and this guy (House speaker) was a main contender...

There definitely is geopolitical ramifications to this. Sorry for your loss...or at least as sorry as I can feel about a politician...

Well, politicians were only a part of the group. Still waiting for the official list. I think they want to inform the families first, public later.
 
The list of those, who died (the most important ones we already know about)

Lech Kaczyński - the President
Maria Kaczyńska - the First Lady
Ryszard Kaczorowski - last Polish President in exile
Jerzy Szmajdziński - Vice Speaker of the Lower House (left wing leader)
Krzysztof Putra - Vice Speaker of the Lower House
Władysław Stasiak - chief of the President's Chancellary
Aleksander Szczygło - chief of the Office for National Security
Paweł Wypych - presidential Secrtetary of state
Mariusz Handzlik - as above
Andrzej Kremer - vice Minister of Foreign Affairs
gen. Franciszek Gągor - chief of staff of the Polish Army
Przemysław Gosiewski - rigth wing prominent politician
Zbigniew Wassermann - as above
Janusz Kochanowski - Polish ombudsman
Sławomir Skrzypek - chief of the Polish National Bank
Janusz Kurtyka - chief of the institute for the National Rememberance
Bishop Tadeusz Płoski - Catholic field bishop of the Polish Army (head Catholic chaplain)
Archbishop Miron Chodakowski - Orthodox field bishop of the Polish Army

And many, many, many others....

EDIT: They were in Russia to mark the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, when the Soviets killed thousands of Poles.
 
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The House speaker takes over. We were actually going to have presidential elections this year (~October) and this guy (House speaker) was a main contender...

Is it Ludwig Dorn? Im having a hard time searching out who exactly the Speaker is?! Even Wiki doesn't have an entry for Poland.

eta: Wow that crash looks devastating to the Polish government. Part of me wants to be excited about it but its still terrible.
 
The debris field of that wreckage in the video above at first glance looks like a mid-air explosion and just a bunch of debris landing wherever.

New pres far left
Polish_Parliament_Speaker_Bronis-36671.largeslideshow.jpg


Some info on new pres platform
http://www.fromthewestwing.com/arti... presidential candidate/?k=j83s12y12h94s27k02

He pledged that his goal as president would be to help this ex-communist country of 38 million modernize and catch up economically with the older, wealthier members of the European Union, which Poland joined in 2004.

Poland needs someone "who helps and doesn't disturb, doesn't block this modernization process," Komorowski told party members in an apparent dig at incumbent Lech Kaczynski of the rival conservative Law and Justice party. That party has sought to purge former communists from all positions of influence, a goal critics say it pursues at the cost of economic development.

Sounds like new Polish pres is a communist.
 
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The debris field of that wreckage in the video above at first glance looks like a mid-air explosion and just a bunch of debris landing wherever.

New pres far left
Polish_Parliament_Speaker_Bronis-36671.largeslideshow.jpg


Some info on new pres platform
http://www.fromthewestwing.com/arti... presidential candidate/?k=j83s12y12h94s27k02



Sounds like new Polish pres is a communist.

I'd have to disagree with your assessment of the debris field anything now is mere speculation, but having worked a few crash sights it looks like a long path plowed through the trees with debris scattered all along it where it broke up as it went, he just sank into the trees on final. Not much fire though, I wonder what his fuel state was. It'll be a long time before, if ever, we know what really went wrong.

My sympathies to the Polish people they have endured much throughout history, and they will they will overcome this as well.
 
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