In the hours that followed the tragic and devastating Polish airline disaster in Russia, which killed Poland's President and most of the top officials in the government, former President and freedom-fighter Lech Walesa implied that Russia was behind the crash.

Walesa stated, 'The elite of Poland have been struck down just as they were 70 years ago.'

The plane that crashed over Russia was headed to a commemoration of the massacre of Polish government officials by the Russians 70 years ago.

Now, less than a week after the airline went down, top Polish officials are concluding that Russia is responsible for the crash.

Tensions between Poland and Russia have been on the rise ever since the demise of the Soviet Union in the 1980s.  Poland had led the way to liberty from government tyranny when former Solidarity leader Lech Walesa staged massive worker strikes and protests against the Communists who ran the government and industry.

In the years that have passed since Poland's liberation, the country has been at odds to varying degrees with Russia, the anchor nation and hub of the old Soviet Union.

When Russia held its first free election following the topple of the Communists, it looked to Boris Yeltsin, who had been a powerful voice in the Soviet Union for freedom.  Under Yeltsin tensions between Poland and Russia were eased.

But when former KGB official Vladmir Putin became President, vestiges of the old mindset at the Kremlin were readily noticeable.  Many Russians whispered that Putin was not to be trusted, that his background as a KGB official in the old Communist government had permanently colored his thinking, and that, in fact, he had never ceased to be a totalitarian at heart who still believes in centralized government control.

Poland responded with open criticism of the direction of the Russian government, fearing that its leaders were determined to gradually take back the satellite nations it lost in the breakup of the Soviet Union. 

And with Russian interventionism in Georgia and other former satellite nations, Poland had reason to be concerned.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski, who was killed in the crash, had been a frequent and harsh critic of the Russians, particularly when Russia objected furiously to the possibility that Poland was slated to receive a defensive nuclear missile shield from the U.S.

It is also interesting that although Russia participated in its own commemoration of its slaughter of Polish officials 70 years ago, Kacznski was not invited.

The world media in one accord appear to be downplaying any suggestion of Russian culpability.  In fact, most media outlets are parroting the Russian line that 'the pilot of the plane is to blame.'

Yet many in Poland are not convinced.  The following two excerpts from the Daily Mail article depict the suspicions:

The Russian government prevented the Polish president's plane from landing four times to divert him from a ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, according to an MP.

Artur Gorski said the Russians 'came up with some dubious reasons' that the aircraft couldn't land because they feared President Leck Kaczynski's presence would overshadow a similar event hosted by the Russian prime minister a few days before.

And their alleged plan ended in disaster when the Polish pilots made one final and disastrous attempt to land, killing Mr Kaczynski, his wife, and 94 others on board the plane.

And even more telling is this:

One version of events says that the plane approached the airport four times, because every time the Russians refused it permission to land - they wanted to send the plane with the president to an airport in Moscow or Minsk,' Mr Gorski claimed in an interview published in the newspaper Nasz Dziennik.

'They came up with some dubious reasons: that there was fog over the airport, and that the navigation system didn't work as it was under renovation, and that airport had a short landing strip.'

 

All of these claims may turn out to be false.  But we may never know the real story due to the fact that Russia has had control over the investigation, and the crash occurred on Russian soil.

For commentary on the issues of the day, visit my blog at The Liberty Sphere.