QUEEN ELIZABETH II PAID TRIBUTE LAST NIGHT TO POLAND'S PRESIDENT LECH KACZYNSKI, WHO DIED WITH HIS WIFE MARIA AND AT LEAST 88 OTHERS WHEN HIS PLANE CRASHED AS IT ATTEMPTED TO LAND AT A RUSSIAN AIRPORT. DONALD TUSK, POLAND'S PRIME MINISTER, SAID THE ACCIDENT WAS THE MOST TRAGIC EVENT IN POLISH HISTORY SINCE THE SECOND WORLD WAR. THERE WERE NO SURVIVORS IN THE CRASH WHICH HAPPENED IN THICK FOG NEAR SMOLENSK. THE PRSEIDENT'S PARTY WAS ON ITS WAY TO COMMEMORATE A MASSACRE OF POLISH OFFICERS IN 1940 BY SOVIET SECRET SECRET POLICE. IN A MESSAGE OF CONDOLENCE, THE QUEEN DESCRIBED HER 'SORROW' AND SENT 'DEEPEST SYMPATHY' TO THE GOVERNMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF POLAND. THE PRINCE OF WALES ALSO EXPRESSED HIS SADNESS. GORDON BROWN, THE PRIME MINISTER, DAVID MILIBAND, THE FOREIGN SECRETARY, AND THE TORY LEADER DAVID CAMERON ALL PAID TRIBUTE. A STATEMENT FROM THE PRIME MINISTER SAID PRESIDENT KACZYNSKI WAS 'ONE OF THE DEFINING ACTORS IN POLAND'S MODERN POLITICAL HISTORY'. THERE WERE SCENES OF GRIEF IN WARSAW AS PEOPLE SET UP MAKESHIFT SHRINES TO THE PRESIDENT. A WEEK OF MOURNING HAS BEN ANNOUNCED. KACZYNSKI HAD BEEN KNOWN AS A FERVENT ANTI-COMMUNIST AND NATIONALIST DURING HIS LONG POLITICAL CAREER. DOZENS OF SENIOR POLITICIANS AND GENERALS ALSO PERISHED IN THE CRASH. VLADIMIR PUTIN, THE RUSSIAN PRIME MINISTER, ASSUMED CHARGE OF THE INVESTIGATION INTO WHY THE 26 YEAR OLD RUSSIAN-MADE AIRCRAFT CRASHED. THE POLISH COMMUNITY IN LONDON WAS THOUGHT TO HAVE LOST AT LEAST ONE IF ITS OWN IN THE INCIDENT. FATHER BRONISLAW GOSTOMSKI, FROM ST ANDREW BOBOLA CHURCH IN SHEPARD'S BUSH, WEST LONDON, WAS REPORTED TO HAVE BEEN ON THE PLANE.
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