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Poland's Lech Kaczyński was ‘last great’ regional leader: Ukraine’s Yushchenko

PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki 09.04.2018 12:00
Late Polish President Lech Kaczyński was the last great leader in his region, former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has said.
The site of the crash of the Polish presidential Tu-154M plane near Smolensk, western Russia, where President Lech Kaczyński, his wife Maria and 94 others were killed on April 10, 2010. Photo: PAP/Wojciech PacewiczThe site of the crash of the Polish presidential Tu-154M plane near Smolensk, western Russia, where President Lech Kaczyński, his wife Maria and 94 others were killed on April 10, 2010. Photo: PAP/Wojciech Pacewicz

Lech Kaczyński "was the last great leader of our part of Europe,” Yushchenko said, as quoted by Poland’s PAP news agency.

He added that Lech Kaczyński, who died in a plane crash eight years ago, “looked beyond the horizon and saw European projects on a macro scale.”

Yushchenko also said that Lech Kaczyński and his wife Maria -- who was also killed in the 2010 crash near Smolensk, western Russia, along with her husband and 94 others -- were “very enlightened people.”

“I am convinced that they were Poles of a new era,” Yushchenko said, adding that he “had the honour of being friends” with the late Polish president.

Yushchenko also said he shared the Polish leader’s views and determination to “strengthen the role of our region in European politics.”

Lech Kaczyński “deeply understood the unique mission of Poland in the east of Europe," he said, as quoted by PAP.

Yushchenko referred to a trip he made together with Lech Kaczyński and the presidents of Lithuania and Estonia to Tbilisi in August 2008 to show solidarity with Georgia in the face of Russia's invasion of that country.

According to former NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Lech Kaczyński was right when he warned the international community over Russia's intentions regarding Georgia as well as Ukraine in 2008.

Lech Kaczyński said at the time that "Georgia will be first, then Ukraine, and then maybe the Baltic states and Poland," Polish public broadcaster TVP Info has reported.

A series of official ceremonies began in Poland on Monday to commemorate the victims of the Polish presidential plane crash on April 10, 2010.

(gs/pk)

Source: PAP, niezalezna.pl

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