Poland

The Republic of Poland is a country in Eastern Europe. Poland belongs to the European Union and NATO. On April 10, 2010 Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria were among more than 130 people killed in a Russian plane crash. The twin brother of former Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Kaczynski was on his way to the ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the Katyn Massacre where more than 20,000 Poles were killed by the Soviets in World War II. Until 1995 when Gorbachev divulged that the massacre was carried out under the direct orders of Stalin, all fingers were pointed at Germany.

Poland Interim Presidency

An emergency meeting of the cabinet took place following the death of President Lech Kaczynski in a Russian plane crash on April 10, 2010. Prime Minister Donald Tusk was expected to attend. Under Polish law, the speaker of the lower House of Parliament (Sejm) becomes interim head of state upon death of the President.

Poland's New President

The Sejm Speaker of the House, Bronislaw Komorowski who was already slated as a presidential candidate against Kacsynski in the scheduled fall elections was sworn into and officially assumed the office of the President of Poland on Friday, August 6, 2010.http://www.president.pl/en/news/news/art,132,bronislaw-komorowski-polands-new-president.html

1. Germany
2. Czech Republic
3. Slovakia
4. Ukraine
5. Belarus
6. Lithuania

Poland has a diverse range of ecosystems spanning across its 120,728 sq mi, including deserts in the south, coastlands bordering the Baltic Sea, and the Tatra Mountains on the southern border.

Poland is a parliamentary republic, with a President as the head of state. Comprised of a sixteen voivodeships (provinces), Poland utilizes a bicameral legislature, with an upper and lower house. The judicial branch includes a Supreme Court, a Constitutional Tribunal, and a State Tribunal.

Current Prime Minister of Poland is Donald Tusk. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has recently been engaged in conversations inviting Tusk to come to Russia to visit a memorial cemetery which is the burial grounds of around 4,000 Polish officers. Around Polish prisoners of war were executed in the Soviet Union in 1940 during the Katyn Massacre. It was the anniversary ceremony for this event which President Kaczynski was planning to attend when his plane crashed. The Russians did not acknowledge the massacre of the Poles at Katyn until 1990 under admission by Mikhail Gorbachev. http://en.rian.ru/papers/20100408/158483693.html