From left, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sit together in Kraków's St. Mary's Basilica during the funeral of former Polish President Lech Kaczyński and his wife Maria on Sunday afternoon.
VILNIUS — Leading politicians from the three Baltic states went to the deceased Polish president’s funeral on Sunday despite disruptions to air traffic in northern Europe that prevented other leaders from attending.
Former Polish President Lech Kaczyński, who died on April 10 in a plane crash near Smolensk in Russia, had his funeral on Sunday following a week of national mourning. Many heads of state were unable to attend the funeral because of the volcanic ash cloud that paralyzed Northern Europe’s air transit during the past week. U.S. President Barack Obama, U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown and several Western European royalty were among those that had to cancel.
The leaders of the Baltic states traveled by car to Kraków, where the funeral for Kaczyński and his wife was held in St. Mary’s Basilica. Other leaders from the region also drove to the funeral.
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė, Latvian President Valdis Zatlers and Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip attended the ceremony. Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves was unable to attend because he was stranded in Istanbul by the ash cloud.
Grybauskaitė met with Kaczyński days before his death on his last outing in Lithuania.
“With the tragic loss, Lithuania mourns with the entire Polish nation. Poland has lost a great man, and Lithuania — a good and sincere friend. The president of Poland and his accompanying loss of life is a huge loss not only to Poland but all of Europe,” Grybauskaitė said.
The Latvian president’s press service reported that Zatlers and his wife Lilita traveled to Poland by car for the funeral.
“These days are both sad and tragic — for Poles, Latvians and Latvian Poles, and for all Europeans. President Kaczyński and Maria Kaczyńska were very close friends of our family, and this period of mourning is very personal for me. I once again express my condolences, and I am together with all Poles throughout the world,” LETA reported Zatlers saying after signing the book of condolences at the Polish Embassy in Riga.
Ilves will visit Kraków as earliest as is possible to lay a wreath in Kaczyński’s honor.
Kaczyński, his wife and 94 others died when attempting to land in Russia near Smolensk airport. The plane went down in heavy fog after clipping the tops of trees. The president and his entourage, which included many of the country’s leaders and elite, were on their way to commemorate the Katyn massacre.
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