Proszę przyjąć moje najszczersze kondolencje

President of Poland Killed in Plane Crash in Russia – NYTimes.com.

My daughters grew up in Poland. Our family lived in Warsaw for 11 years until we moved to Russia in 2003. I have great affection for the country and am proud to number many Poles among my friends. To lose so many in an air crash, regardless of their eminence, is already a national tragedy. That the dead include so many national leaders en route to a solemn commemoration of a national tragedy only makes it more poignant.

I sincerely hope that the fact that the accident took place on Russian soil will not damage relations so recently improved by Prime Minister Putin's frank renewed acknowledgement of the truth of Katyn. At another recent ceremony, he said that the massacre was one of many crimes of the Soviet Union's "totalitarian regime".

We bow our heads to those who bravely met death here. In
this ground lay Soviet citizens, burnt in the fire of the Stalinist
repression of the 1930s; Polish officers, shot on secret orders;
soldiers of the Red Army, executed by the Nazis.

I winced slightly to read that the crew had ignored the advice of air traffic controllers to divert to another airport, choosing to land at Smolensk in dense fog (presumably so as to arrive in time for the ceremony). I would not be surprised if that was authorised by the leaders on board. If the Polish nation has a weakness, it is that its collective courage has sometimes tended to exceed its prudence.

Whatever the cause, my sympathies to the families concerned and to the Polish nation.