World

Russian officials accused of 'deliberately' causing fatal plane crash and death of Polish president

The wreckage of the Polish presidential plane, which crashed in April 2010 in Smolensk, western Russia. Polish prosecutors alleged yesterday that a new analysis of evidence into crash that killed Polish president Lech Kaczynski, shows that two Russian air traffic controllers and a third person in the control tower willingly contributed to the disaster, although they have withheld details of their evidence Picture: Sergey Ponomarev/AP
The wreckage of the Polish presidential plane, which crashed in April 2010 in Smolensk, western Russia. Polish prosecutors alleged yesterday that a new analysis of evidence into crash that killed Polish president Lech Kaczynski, shows that two Russian air The wreckage of the Polish presidential plane, which crashed in April 2010 in Smolensk, western Russia. Polish prosecutors alleged yesterday that a new analysis of evidence into crash that killed Polish president Lech Kaczynski, shows that two Russian air traffic controllers and a third person in the control tower willingly contributed to the disaster, although they have withheld details of their evidence Picture: Sergey Ponomarev/AP

POLISH prosecutors have alleged that a new analysis of evidence from the 2010 plane crash in Russia that killed the Polish president shows that two Russian air traffic controllers and a third Russian official in the control tower deliberately contributed to the disaster.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman quickly rejected the Polish claims.

"The circumstances of this tragedy have been thoroughly studied and we cannot agree with such conclusions," Dmitry Peskov said.

Poland's national prosecutor Marek Kuczynski said there is "no doubt" that one of the causes of the crash was the behaviour of those in the control tower.

Deputy prosecutor Marek Pasionek said the two air traffic controllers were guilty of "deliberately causing an air traffic catastrophe", and said the third Russian official present was guilty of "assisting in deliberately causing a catastrophe".

Polish investigators said they want to question the three Russians and cannot reveal details about the evidence until that happens.

The crash on April 10 2010 killed President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others, many of them top Polish state and military leaders.

The disaster occurred when the Polish crew tried to land in heavy fog at an airport near Smolensk, Russia, without having visibility of the ground.

The plane clipped a tree on approaching the runway and crashed into the ground.

It was the worst tragedy in modern Polish history and at first united a deeply grieving nation.

But the Smolensk tragedy has since become a highly divisive political issue, pitting liberal Poles against conservative supporters of Mr Kaczynski and his twin brother Jaroslaw Kaczynski, a former prime minister who now heads the populist ruling Law and Justice party.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski has suggested that Mr Putin and the Polish prime minister at the time, Donald Tusk, now a top European Union leader, bear guilt for the tragedy.

Mr Kaczynski and his allies have made a range of allegations, at times suggesting that there was an explosive device on board that brought the plane down or that Mr Putin ordered the assassination of the Polish leader.

Other suggestions have included an unproven claim that the Russians produced fake fog to disorientate the pilots.

They have also alleged that Mr Tusk failed to provide adequate security for the presidential flight and that he failed to properly investigate the tragedy afterwards or get back the wreckage or flight records, which remain in Russia almost seven years later.

Defence minister Antoni Macierewicz sent a note to military prosecutors last month accusing Mr Tusk of committing the crime of diplomatic treason, alleging he worked with Mr Putin to harm Poland's interests after the crash.

Mr Tusk strongly denies those claims and government critics believe Mr Kaczynski and his nationalistic supporters have been falsely fomenting conspiracy theories to win political points with voters sceptical of both Russia and pro-European liberals like Mr Tusk.

Some critics said they consider allegations against the Russians as a sign that a commission headed by Mr Macierewicz that is investigating the tragedy has not uncovered anything new.

The commission "should be dissolved because there is no proof of an assassination or a blast", Newsweek Polska editor Tomasz Lis said on Twitter.

There were two major investigations into the crash separately carried out by Poland and Russia.

The Polish investigation blamed the disaster on a combination of factors, including bad weather and errors made by a pilot who was not adequately trained on the plane he was flying, a Tupolev-154.

That probe also said Russian air traffic controllers gave incorrect and confusing landing instructions to pilots – but it stopped short of alleging intentional wrongdoing.

A Russian investigation at the time put all blame on the Polish side, finding no fault with the Russian air traffic controllers.