On April 3, the Polish side announced its decision to postpone the visit of the official Polish delegation led by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to Smolensk and Katyn slated for April 10 to commemorate the 10^th anniversary of the presidential plane crash and the 80^th anniversary of the Katyn events.

However, we were perplexed that Head of the Prime Minister's Office Minister Michal Dworczyk justified the decision by claiming that Russia had not given an unambiguous written reply to the proposed logistic plans of the visit.

We are surprised by the new provocative invective of the Polish authorities, all the more so that the note from the Polish Embassy we received today mentioned threats pertaining to the coronavirus pandemic as reasons for postponing the visit.

I want to remind you that after receiving the relevant request from Warsaw on February 14, the Russian Foreign Ministry immediately replied in a note saying that the Russian side was ready to assist in arranging the visit and asking our  Polish colleagues to provide all the information necessary for preparing the event. The advance party that arrived in Moscow on March 4 said that it would be a visit by the Prime Minister and promised to provide the requested information promptly. Complete information on the delegation members and the event programme was received only on March 25. After that, the delegation lineup and numbers changed many times, which required additional approvals. 

Nevertheless, despite the difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the short notice, the Russian side displayed full readiness to cooperate. The Russian Foreign Ministry and the Russian Embassy in Warsaw were in close contact with the Polish side all that time. On March 30, the Russian Federal Guard Service and the Polish State Protection Service discussed specific aspects of organising the visit during a video conference call. We have done considerable preparatory work involving many Russian agencies. We have taken difficult decisions on opening Russian borders for the Polish delegation. We informed the Poles that Russia would send a high-ranking delegation to Smolensk, confirming our readiness for bilateral contacts. Throughout our contacts with the Poles, Warsaw expressed satisfaction with the level of cooperation.

Now, instead of appreciation, we meet with defiant ingratitude, which lies at the door of Polish politicians, who go on speculating about the holy theme of the air crash victims, their citizens. We have made the relevant conclusions.