Russians Staged Provocations At The Memorial To The Victims Of The Smolensk Disaster

• 10.04.2026, 17:08

The Polish delegation was met by aggressive groups with propaganda slogans.

Provocations were arranged in Russia's Smolensk for Poles who came to honor the memory of those killed in the Smolensk plane crash on the 16th anniversary of the events.

As RMF24 reports, Polish Ambassador to Russia Krzysztof Krajewski said.

The ambassador said that they were met at the memorial by certain individuals whose behavior was provocative as the Polish delegation arrived.

"These were unfriendly groups who tried in vain to provoke someone and used propaganda slogans concerning our assistance to Ukraine," the diplomat said, adding that it did not look like a spontaneous action.

Among other things, there were posters accusing Poland of allegedly providing its airspace for Ukrainian long-range strikes on Russian territory - a narrative that Russian propaganda launched after intensifying strikes on ports around St. Petersburg.

The ambassador said the demonstrators consisted mainly of young men in balaclavas. Poles who came to the memorial ignored them.

The Polish ambassador also said Russia was ignoring Poland's requests for the wreckage of the presidential plane that crashed near Smolensk.

As is known, on April 10, 2010, the Tu-154M plane crashed at Severny airport near Smolensk, killing 96 people, including President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria, top military commanders and the last president of the Republic of Poland in exile, Ryszard Kaczorowski.