EU calls for Russia to return Smolensk disaster plane wreck

Tu-154 wreckage: photo - Polish Radio - Wlodzimierz Pac

The committee issued a statement on Tuesday amid mounting frustration in Poland concerning the wreckage of the Tupolev 154 plane, which has been languishing in Russia for over two and a half years.

Tuesday's appeal follows Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski's December request to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, in which he asked for help from the EU in encouraging Russia to return the wreckage.

The current appeal was composed by three Polish MEPs, with two from dominant coalition party Civic Platform (Krzysztof Lisek and Slawomir Nitras), together with Marek Migalski from Poland Comes First.

“This standpoint, besides calling for the return of the wreck, also calls for the completion of the investigation as soon as possible,” Migalski told Polish Radio in Brussels.

The EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee is made up of an equal number of MEPs and representatives of the two chambers of the National Assembly of the Russian Federation, the State Duma and the Federation Council.

It typically meets no more than twice a year.

Last December, Russia's foreign minister said he was “surprised” by Sikorski's request for a swift return of the wreckage.

Some 96 people died when the delegation of President Lech Kaczynski crashed at Smolensk military airport on 10 April 2010.

The return of the wreck is a highly sensitive matter, with current opposition party Law and Justice – which is led by Lech Kaczynski's twin brother Jaroslaw – regularly dismissing the official Polish and Russian version of events that the crash was an accident.

In line with this thesis - which the majority of Poles reject, according to public opinion polls, Russia is witholding a key piece of evidence in the form of the wreck. (nh)