Poland's Kaczynski blames Russia for plane crash - Jan. 22, 2011

Poland’s Kaczynski blames Russia for plane crash

Published Jan. 22, 2011 at 5:22 pm

Opposition party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the twin brother to Poland's late President Lech Kaczynski, tells reporters in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday, Jan.13, 2011 that a Russian report on a plane crash last year in Russia that killed the president and 95 others is a mockery of Poland and unfairly puts all the blame on the Poles. Russian committee for investigating flight accidents published its report on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish opposition party leader Jaroslaw Kaczysnki has blamed Russia and the Polish government for the plane crash that killed his brother and 95 others last year.

A plane crash in Russia last April killed President Lech Kaczynski and many prominent political and military leaders.

Recriminations have reached a fever pitch since a Russian aviation commission declared this month that blame for the crash rests fully with the Poles.

The Polish government believes most of the blame rests with the Polish pilots, but that Russian air traffic controllers also made errors.

Kaczynski on Saturday called the Russian explanations a "gigantic scandal" and said Russians are to blame.