Poland said on Tuesday that Russian ground controllers made mistakes in the build-up to a plane crash that killed President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others on board in western Russia in April. The Warsaw government was presenting its version of the April 10 plane crash, which claimed the lives of dozens of senior Polish officials, after a Russian report said the crew feared aborting the landing would have angered the president.
Poland released on Tuesday transcripts of conversations between Russian ground controllers at the Smolensk airport as well as with their supervisors.
"Ground control staff, acting under a lot of pressure, made a series of mistakes and did not sufficiently support the Polish Tupolev attempting to land in extremely difficult weather conditions," said Colonel Miroslaw Grochowski after playing an audio-video reconstruction of the flight.
The presentation also accused Smolensk controllers of giving wrong weather and visibility information, failing to close the airport despite thick fog and confirming the Polish plane was on the right track to land while it was too low.
Warsaw says the airport was also badly equipped and wants Moscow to accept that.
Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) last week said the Polish crew was under too much pressure, fearing that aborting the landing would anger the late president.
Polish government officials said at the time the report seemed one-sided and one warned of more possible trouble ahead with Moscow.
Analysts said the escalating dispute over the causes of the crash may hurt the recent fragile rapprochement between the two neighbours after years of frosty relations marked by rows over history, energy and security issues.
The crash prompted an outpouring of sympathy from Russians, supporting efforts to mend deeply strained ties between Warsaw and Moscow, which dominated Soviet satellite Poland for over four decades until 1989. Investigations of the crash, however, have thrown up differences.
BLAME GAME
International aviation experts are split on procedures with some saying Poland could seek international arbitrage if Russia refused to review the report or if the talks failed. Others say the IAC report is final and Moscow is not obliged to elaborate.
Many in Poland believe Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who faces national elections this autumn, has been too soft in his dealings with Moscow over the crash.
Poland’s main opposition, the conservative-nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, says Tusk bears moral responsibility for the accident.
The late president’s twin brother and PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said earlier on Tuesday the transcripts showed Moscow was directly responsible for the crash.
"This is information of key importance because it shows who is guilty of this catastrophe," he told a news conference.
"Direct responsibility for the crash lies first and foremost with the Russians. Of course, there are also indirect reasons on the Polish side, but all of them would never have led to the catastrophe if it was not for the Russians’ actions."
PiS also called for the dismissal of Polish Defence Minister Bogdan Klich and filed for a no-confidence vote against him on Wednesday, when the Polish parliament will hold a special session on the IAC report and Warsaw’s actions.
Nearly half of Poles believe the IAC report wrongly identified the crash causes compared to 23 percent believing it was right, a survey also indicated over the weekend.
