The actual investigation into the crash has been controversial, with Poles accusing the Russians of delaying handing over all documents. The Russians have only recently given Poles all the documents. Polish investigative committee will have the results of its investigation ready by January 2011. June 23, 2010 Weimar Triangle Meeting – Russia participated for the first time in the meeting of French, German and Polish foreign ministers known as the Weimar Triangle meeting. This was a critical meeting at which – Germany proposed to France and Poland the Russian-EU Security and Political Committee, a new forum for Russia and the EU to discuss security issues. Transdniestria was put up as a potential example of cooperation. July 4, 2010 (second round) Polish Presidential Elections – Bronislaw Komorowski won the early elections held because of the death of Lech Kaczynski (would have been held later in 2010). The main issues that were dealt with during the elections were during the 2010 spring flooding one of the worst in Polish government’s performance – recent history response of the government to the global financial crisis mainly PO and PiS – – were competing to see who would take the credit for how Poland had stayed away from the crisis and the handling of the Smolensk disaster. – government’s September 2, 2010 Visit by Sergei Lavrov to Poland – was an important way for Poland and Russia to display improving relations. He Lavrov’s visit talked with Sikorski and Tusk, discussing everything from the ongoing Smolensk air disaster investigation, Russian bid to get on the EU visa-free list, Kaliningrad, the Russian-Polish commission to investigate troubled historical events (important part of the ongoing effort by Moscow to reduce tensions over issues like Katyn) and the natural gas deal negotiations. ONGOING/UPCOMING EVENTS End of November Medvedev comes to Poland – Important visit that is supposed to coincide with successful end of Polish-Russian natural gas negotiations and also to follow the NATO-Russia council meeting after the NATO Lisbon summit on November 19-20. November 21, 2010 Local Elections – The local elections are always important in Poland because they determine a number of mayorships and key local positions. A lot of the local administrations determine how EU money which Poland gets a lot of is distributed. Furthermore, this will be a key event to understand – –
The actual investigation into the crash has been controversial, with Poles accusing the Russians of delaying handing over all documents. The Russians have only recently given Poles all the documents. Polish investigative committee will have the results of its investigation ready by January 2011. June 23, 2010 – Weimar Triangle Meeting Russia participated for the first time in the meeting of French, German and Polish foreign ministers – known as the Weimar Triangle meeting. This was a critical meeting at which Germany proposed to France and Poland the Russian-EU Security and Political Committee, a new forum for Russia and the EU to discuss security issues. Transdniestria was put up as a potential example of cooperation. July 4, 2010 (second round) – Polish Presidential Elections Bronislaw Komorowski won the early elections held because of the death of Lech Kaczynski (would have been held later in 2010). The main issues that were dealt with during the elections were government’s performance during the 2010 spring flooding – one of the worst in Polish recent history – response of the government to the global financial crisis – mainly PO and PiS were competing to see who would take the credit for how Poland had stayed away from the crisis – and the government’s handling of the Smolensk disaster. September 2, 2010 – Visit by Sergei Lavrov to Poland Lavrov’s visit was an important way for Poland and Russia to display improving relations. He talked with Sikorski and Tusk, discussing everything from the ongoing Smolensk air disaster investigation, Russian bid to get on the EU visa-free list, Kaliningrad, the Russian-Polish commission to investigate troubled historical events (important part of the ongoing effort by Moscow to reduce tensions over issues like Katyn) and the natural gas deal negotiations. ONGOING/UPCOMING EVENTS End of November – Medvedev comes to Poland Important visit that is supposed to coincide with successful end of Polish-Russian natural gas negotiations and also to follow the NATO-Russia council meeting after the NATO Lisbon summit on November 19-20. November 21, 2010 – Local Elections The local elections are always important in Poland because they determine a number of mayorships and key local positions. A lot of the local administrations determine how EU money – which Poland gets a lot of – is distributed. Furthermore, this will be a key event to understand
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