Russia fired back Monday at a Polish defense minister who appeared to suggest Moscow was behind the 2010 plane crash that killed his country's president, Lech Kaczynski, NBC News reported.
Calling Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz's remarks Sunday "irresponsible," the Russian Foreign Ministry said they were "aimed at further destabilization of the already difficult relations between our countries."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov blasted Macierewicz's assertions as "unfounded, biased and having nothing to do with the real circumstances of this tragedy."
In Poland, opponents of the conservative Polish government led by Kaczynski's twin brother, Jaroslaw, said Macierewicz was playing with fire.
Kaczynski, his wife, Poland's central bank chief and top military brass were killed while flying to Russia for the commemoration of the Katyn Massacre, the 1940 execution of some 22,000 Polish officers by Stalin's henchmen.
