According to Waynakh Online sources, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev started an official visit to Poland. Hundreds of Polish citizens welcomed Medvedev with protests in various cities.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his wife arrived in Warsaw, the capital of Poland, on Monday morning. Medvedev met with Polish President Bronisław Komorowski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The main aim of Medvedev’s visit is to reset the positive relationship between the two countries.

Joachim Brudziński, an MP of the Polish PiS (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość – Law and Justice) party, bashed Prime Minister Donald Tusk. “What happened in Smolensk, before and after? Mr. Tusk is on the list of national shame. We were humbled by the investigation related to the Smolensk crash. Mr. Medvedev’s visit today has a lot of costs for us,” said Mr. Brudziński during a radio interview.

In Warsaw, there were two protests. The first protest was held in front of the Presidential Palace at 11:30am. Hundreds of people gathered with Polish and Chechen flags and demanded the truth about the plane crash in Smolensk. The protesters held banners stating, “We want the truth about Smolensk”; “What happened to the injured people in the plane crash?”, “Why doesn’t Russia want to give us the black box from the plane?” Some of the participants carried big photos of the genocide in Chechnya, which was committed by Russia. Among the banners, the participants chanted slogans like “Here is Poland, not Russia”, “Free Poland” and “Free Chechnya.” The meeting was organized by the Polish association “Koliber”. The second protest was held in front of the Russian embassy at 6:00pm. The motto was, “Yes to a Europe of free nations; No to Russian imperialism!” (Tak dla Europy wolnych narodów; Nie dla rosyjskiego imperializmu) At the same time, Medvedev met with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the Hotel Hyatt near the Russian embassy.

Another protest was held in Krakow in front of the Russian embassy at 3:00pm by members of “Wolna Polska (Free Poland)”. The participants chanted slogans against Polish President Bronisław Komorowski, because he welcomed Medvedev. They held banners in different languages and asked about what happened in Smolensk.

In the same hour, another Polish city, Poznan also hosted a protest. The protest was held in front of the Russian diplomatic mission building. Several associations and organizations supported the protest.

“We will be in our black costumes during the day; it is a sign of our solidarity with the victims: journalists, human rights defenders and others who fight for a democratic and free Russia, free of the Russian security service FSB. Today we are here because we are against human rights violations in Russia and Russian imperialism and occupation in Chechnya,” said Marcin Janasik, from the “Lepszy Świat (A Better World)” association, which was one of the participant organizations.

The last demonstration in Poland was held at 5:00pm in Gdańsk, in front of the Russian embassy. The participants held flags, banners and put candles on the door.

Video from demonstration in Warsaw:

*Text was written by Waynakh Online and edited by Michael Capobianco