Vaclav Klaus, the Czech president who closely allied himself with Polish President Lech Kaczynski to thwart Russian hegemony in eastern Europe, reacted with shock to the news of
Kaczynski's untimely death.
Klaus said he lost a "genuine friend ... it is a horrible and immense loss," adding that he was 'shaken, shocked and saddened' by the death of Polish president."
Klaus' predecessor, Vaclav Havel, suggested the death will have serious implications for Poland and the world.
He raised the specter of questionable circumstances swirling around the death, telling Czech television that the tragedy evoked "the well-known, strange death of General Sikorski" in a plane crash decades earlier.
The death in 1943 of Wladyslaw Sikorski, Poland's then premier-in-exile, later helped the Soviet Union gain control over Poland.
The plane crash remains a subject of conspiracy theories, M&C News reported.
"It greatly influenced the entire history of Poland," Havel said. "And I think that this catastrophe will again influence Polish history."
The loss of
Kaczynski's plane also resulted in the deaths of Poland's top military leaders and key national security advisers.