New evidence on Smolensk crash

The news was announced by the commission’s head, Wacław Berczyński, during an interview for public broadcaster TVP Info.

The new evidence includes recordings from the control tower at Severny airport.

So far the commission investigating the crash, in western Russia, has heard messages exchanged between the control tower and the cockpit crew.

“The new recordings come straight from the tower and stand in contradiction to the ones we have heard to date,” Berczyński said.

One of the discrepancies is the distance to the edge of the runway reported to the Polish crew. “The difference is substantial and it could have affected the landing operation,” Berczyński said.

He added that the new evidence could lead to charges against an additional person on the Russian side.

The Smolensk commission is due to meet this Tuesday. A press conference is to follow on Thursday.

Berczyński expressed hope that the new evidence could shed fresh light on the disaster on 10 April 2010, when the Polish president’s Tupolev plane crashed, killing all 96 people on board, including the head of state, Lech Kaczyński.

“The Tupolev crew was misinformed. We don’t know if it was intentional, though,” Berczyński said.

An official report into the crash issued by the former Polish government cited a catalogue of errors on the Polish side, while also pointing to errors made by Russian staff at the control tower of Smolensk Military Airport.

A Russian report placed all the blame on the Poles. The wreckage of the plane has never been handed over by Russia to the Polish authorities.

(mo/pk)