Word: smolensk
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...past, Katyn signified mass murder committed in 1940 in a forest just west of the Russian town of Smolensk by troops of the Soviet Union, who killed defenseless Polish prisoners of war. The victims of the atrocity accounted for much of Poland's military as well as intellectual elite. The second Katyn tragedy - the April 10 crash on the approach to Smolensk airport of a plane carrying dignitaries to a ceremony commemorating that very 1940 massacre - led to the death of nearly 100 of the top political personalities of a newly independent, and once again democratic, Poland. Those who died...
...comprehensive reconciliation of their nations. Putin spoke at that event and spoke well. But he still spoke more as a statesman doing what was needed; somehow, he did not really connect, in a human sense, with the Poles. By contrast, within hours of the fatal plane crash outside Smolensk three days later, Putin himself was on the spot in Katyn, reaching out to the Poles in a spontaneously warm and compassionate fashion. That all of a sudden infused human feelings into an issue that had divided the two peoples. (See TIME's Poland covers...
...minister of foreign affairs, as well as scores of other officials who were on that flight. How the tragedy will effect relations between Poland and Russia will depend a lot on how Russia handles the investigation of the crash alongside Polish authorities. For his part, Putin is traveling to Smolensk on Saturday to help oversee the inquiry and meet with Tusk, who has also said he is coming to the scene of the crash. But whatever the investigators find among the wreckage, Poles will now have yet another tragic reason to mourn their countrymen in the forests around Katyn...
...devastating plane crash in Russia that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife as well as several other top-ranking officials. Ninety-six passengers were killed after the aged Russian aircraft, a Tupolev Tu-154, plunged into a forest near the airport in the Russian city of Smolensk. The Polish officials were there to mark the 70th anniversary of a massacre of Polish officers. (Read a 1951 story on the Katyn Forest Massacre...
...press conference at the place of the catastrophe. Nevertheless, Poland has announced it will carry out its own investigation into the causes of the crash. So far the most probable cause is the error of judgment on the part of the pilot, who attempted a second landing at the Smolensk airport despite being warned by traffic controllers to divert to Moscow or Minsk because of thick fog. When descending, the plane clipped the tree line and broke in two, resulting in the deadly crash that has sent Poland into mourning...