Muscovites are lighting candles and laying flowers near the Polish embassy on Sunday to mourn the victims of the devastating plane crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and several other top officials.
The Soviet-made TU-154 carrying Kaczynski hit the top of trees as it attempted to land at a Smolensk airport in west Russia on Saturday morning, killing all the 97 people on board the plane.
The plane was taking Kaczynski and a delegation of top Polish officials to a ceremony to pay tribute to some 20,000 Polish officers who were executed in Katyn and other locations by Soviet secret police in 1940.
Muscovites are coming to the Polish embassy to express their condolences to the Polish people. There are flowers and lit candles all over the place.
People leaving notes with condolences in the Russian and Polish languages on the fence around the embassy building.
"This tragedy will bring us closer to each other, even though our peoples are very close to each other," a Russian man of Polish origin told RIA Novosti.
"These are our people, our friends and a part of our life. We are expressing condolences to the entire Polish people," performers of the Alexandrov Russian army academic song and dance ensemble told RIA Novosti while laying a floral basket near the embassy.
MOSCOW, April 11 (RIA Novosti)
