Polish foreign ministry 'unsatisfied' with Russian statements about Smolensk crash

Addressing a recent press conference, Putin said he had personally read a report claiming that a “member of the security team” had insisted the plane land in foggy conditions on 10 April 2010.

The plane crashed killing all 96 people on board including Polish President Lech Kaczyński.

The statement by Putin on 23 December was the subject of a diplomatic note by the Polish embassy in Moscow the following day. The Russian embassy in turn issued a statement on its website trying to explain the claims.

Russia has long maintained that it is still conducting an investigation running in parallel with a Polish probe, despite an official Russian report issued several years ago. Russia claims to be investigating the same issues which are being studied by a newly appointed commission of experts in Poland.

It claims that until the Polish authorities conclude their investigation, the wreckage of the plane will still be needed by Russia for these counter investigations, and therefore cannot be returned to the country.

“The statement by the Embassy of the Russian Federation once again confirms that the Russian side uses the issue of the return of the presidential plane wreckage to maintain an atmosphere of mistrust in mutual relations,” the Polish foreign ministry wrote in a statement.

The statement said that despite seven years having passed since the crash, the wreckage has not yet been returned. “It would be appropriate for the Russian side to make concrete steps in this direction, instead of communicating unverified statements made by President Putin,” the note added.

Speaking to journalists in Brussels, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said: “Of course we are unsatisfied with the explanations of the Russian Embassy, because they do not explain the statements of President Putin, who ... referred to recordings [of the pilots in the cockpit]. We do not know of such recordings.”

(rg)