FT_Weekend_Magazine_-_April_4-5_2020

FT.COM/MAGAZINE APRIL 4/ 52020 25

WhileanimositytowardsMoscow

has endured,thepolitical heirs

ofLechKaczynski haveinrecent

years sought finallytomoveon from

the tragedy.InApril 2018,Jaro-

slawKaczynski calledtime on the

monthlygatherings.Theevent that

Aprilwas the 96th, meaning that

therehadbeen one for eachofthe

victims.And Kaczynski’sgovern-

ment had finallywonalong-running

battleovertheir desiretobuild a

monument to the crash’svictims in

the centreofWarsaw.

“The life of the topicended,”says

Nowacka,theleftwingpolitician.

“You cannot [extract] passionate

emotions fromatopic, constantly

for 10years.And[PiS]realised

that...it’seasier tobearesponsible

partythatdistributes500+[agener-

ous childbenefit programme] than

aparty basedonthe emotion of a

plane crash.”

Asthe10thanniversaryofthedis-

aster looms,however,the ghosts of

Smolensk still linger.Theremains

of the plane lie inahangarbehind

agrey,barbedwire-toppedwall not

far from the memorial site, as they

havefor almostadecade. The long-

promisedfinalreport into the crash

byAntoni Macierewicz,aclose ally

ofJaroslawKaczynski,isstillunpub-

lished. Andbeforethe coronavirus

outbreak closedborders across the

world,agroup ofrelativesofthe

victims had once againbeendue to

maketheirwayto theRussiancityto

paytribute to those whodied.

Nowacka, however,had already

decidedthatshewould notbegoing.

“I thinkmyplace is hereinWarsaw,

because my motherishere,”she

says,beforeadding:“AndIdon’t

wanttohaveSmolensk as part of the

political campaignagain.Ibelieve

this isamemorythatbelongs to

every one of us,andnot to onepoliti-

calgrouporanother.”

JamesShotter is the FT’scentral

Europe correspondent.HenryFoyis

FTMoscowbureau chief.Additional

reportingby AgataMajos

anexplosion. And other families

fiercelyobjectedtohavingtheirloved

ones’gravesdisturbed.Among them

was MalgorzataRybicka, whose

husband Arkadiusz,aconservative

MP who hadbeenapro-democracy

activist duringPoland’stime under

communism,perishedonthe flight.

Together with 15 other families,

she protestedagainst theexhuma-

tions.AfterhercomplaintsinPoland

fell on deaf ears,together withEwa

Solska,the widowofLeszek Solski,

who also diedinSmolensk, she took

the case to the EuropeanCourt of

Human Rights andwon–but it was

toolate.Rybicka’shusband was

exhumedinMay 2018 ,one of the

final gravestobereopened.

“The timebeforeitwasawful,

because it was mourning forcedon

us,”shesays.“It wasreallyavio-

lation of the family’swill.Ihad the

impression that,nomatter what

theysay,the whole brutality of this

government came out.That theyare

readyforeverything. One canbeg,

ask...Imentionedmyhusband’s

merits,myreligiousworldview,eve-

rything. It brought noresultsat all.”

Inresponse to the ECHR ruling,

Poland’sjustice minister Zbigniew

Ziobromaintainedtheexhuma-

tionswerenecessarybecause no

autopsieswerecarriedout when the

bodieswerebrought back toPoland.

The detenteinPolish-Russian

relations provednomoredurable

than the fleeting moment ofPolish

unity.ForKomorowski,whodidtake

overaspresident,the turningpoint

cameafew months after the crash,

when theRussianreport sought to

put the blame squarelyonthePoles.

“Thisreportwasdifficulttoaccept

for thePolish sidebecause it com-

pletelyignoredthe problem of the

BarbaraNowacka,aleftwingpoliticianandactivist,whosemother

Izabela,aformerdeputyprimeminister,diedinthecrash

DonaldTusk,thenPolishprime

minister,greetshisRussian

counterpart,VladimirPutin,

atthecrashsiteinApril 2010

sharedresponsibility of theRussian

side,”he says.“TheRussians wanted

to close the case on theresponsibil-

ity of thePolish pilots,wantedto

omitissuesrelatedto thepoorprep-

aration of theirownservices,the

malfunctioningofthe airport,which

would compromise...them.”

RelationsbetweenRussiaand

theEU’smost important eastern

member state deterioratedfurther,

as itbecameclearthatRussiahadno

intention ofreturning the wreckage

of the Tu-154–provokingaccusa-

tions that it was playingpoliticswith

its neighbour’snational tragedy.

“TheRussians...aren’tgiving it back

because it’sagreat tool to irritate the

Polesand to provokepolitical con-

flictinPoland,”claimsKomorowski.

WhenRussia annexedCrimea

from Ukraine in 2014, the door to

rapprochement,which Tusk’sgov-

ernment hadbeeninching open

beforeSmolensk,finallyslammed

shut.Polandwas one of the fore-

most advocatesoftough sanctions

bytheinternational community on

Moscow.Moscow’scounter-sanc-

tions hitPolish farmers hard.Atthe

80th anniversary of the start of the

secondworld war lastyear,the con-

trast with the 70th could not have

beenstarker.Unlikein2 009 ,Putin

was not invited, and in the following

months he launchedrepeatedjibes

atPoland, falselyclaiming that the

country was partlyresponsible for

the outbreak of the conflict.

Adecadeon, Sikorskibelieves

thatRussiaandPoland’sinterestsare

nowsoopposedthat all that canbe

done is to minimise clashes.“Russia

wants to get the US out of Europe;

wewant tokeep them.Russiawants

the EU to disintegrate;wewant it

to flourish.Russia wantsUkraine

tobedisorganisedand corrupt and

integratedintotheir multinational

scheme;wewant it tobeEuro-

pean,”he says.“Therelationship

withRussia consists in managingthe

differencesandfinding some mar-

ginal areas of collaboration.”(The

Russiangovernment declinedto

commentfor this article.)

‘Idon’twantto

haveSmolenskas

partofthepolitical

campaignagain.

This isamemory

thatbelongstoevery

oneofus,nottoany

politicalgroup’

BarbaraNowacka