The planned ceremony was especially important given that Kaczynski was not regarded as a friend of Russia, and was pressing for missile defense interceptors to be deployed in Poland and promoting the membership in NATO of Ukraine and Georgia, Weir noted.

“Russia will undoubtedly remember this awful tragedy, which happened not only on their soil, but in the very place [of the massacre],” the journalist concluded.

RT’s political commentator Peter Lavelle said “it is simply amazing that this would happen on this occasion because it was such an important event for [Kaczynski] politically.”

“This is classical Kaczynski: he was coming around, always in tune with trends. I think he was a little bit behind the curve here, but he was catching up. And reconciliation is on the agenda right now. It is very, very hard for both sides, by very definition it is,” he said.

Lavelle drew a parallel to the German-French relationship, which was “very bitter for centuries”. Yet “they were able to reconcile”, he said.

“Poland and Russia are going down that road right now,” he believes.

According to him, “Katyn is one of the most important historical events that young Poles – even to this day – know about.” Unfortunately, Lavelle added, “it is even very much in part of their identity.”

“This is a very painful thing for both sides,” However, he went on, it was the Soviet “secret services” who were behind the Katyn Massacre. “This was the Soviet Union that did this,” he said. But now there is a different country, Russia, he underlined.

“Let’s not get hysterical,” he said. “The reconciliation process was on its way and the progress was being made. And I compliment both sides during that process,” Lavelle said, adding that Kaczynski was part of that process.