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Siberian blogger claims to have spread horrific Smolensk disaster photos

PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge 18.10.2012 09:19
A resident of the Russian city of Barnaul, Western Siberia, has claimed to have been the first to publish the graphic pictures of the 2010 Smolensk disaster that caused outrage in Poland.

Aftermath
Aftermath of Smolensk crash: photo - wikipedia

The blogger's claim comes after the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation released a statement on Wednesday declaring that the pictures did not come from materials from the official Russian investigation into the April 2010 air crash.

The author of the blog, apparently a 51-year-old married man, has stated on-line that he used text in his Smolensk-themed pieces from a Russian journalist named Tatiana Karatsuba.

Karatsuba is understood to have published a political bi-monthly called President, Government, Parliament.

It is unclear who took the original pictures, which were made in the immediate wake of the crash that killed 96 Poles, including President Lech Kaczynski.

The remains of some victims are clearly discernible in the images.

Russian soldiers, firemen and police officers were among the first to gain access to the site on the morning of April 10.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has commented that “it is difficult to rule out the possibility of a provocation.”

Nevertheless, the prime minister stressed that he did not want to speculate publicly who might be responsible for the leak, “so that emotions concerning Smolensk do not erupt once again, and in such a drastic way.”

Antoni Macierewicz, opposition MP from Law and Justice (former party of the late President Lech Kaczynski” has called the publication of the pictures “barbaric.”

The Russian ambassador in Poland has already been summoned to the Foreign Ministry, and Poland has called for those responsible for the leak to be punished. (nh)

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