Polish President killed in Plane Crash

Here it says that the Plish President, Lech Kaczynski, has been killed in a plane crash in Smolensk, Russia. Apparently he was going there for an event commemorating the Katyn Massacre, there was thick fog, the plane hit trees and went down. The pilot had been offered Moscow or Minsk airports but refused those. The plane was a (probably very old) Tupolev 154 - one of the type in which I have flown many times to Tajikistan.

Question of course is why was he flying in an old Russian plane? Not many of these are allowed in EU airspace. Was he trying to save money? Generally these planes feel very safe - they seem to be much less affected by turbulence than more modern planes, but does the Polish government not have its own planes? Why did he not fly with LOT? But of course thick fog is another thing; whether a LOT plane would have coped any better, who knows. Another question is whether the pilot would have insisted on Smolensk airport if he had not had a president on board.

Whatever we think of Mr Kaczynski and his brother's politics, I feel sorry for his twin brother.