Russia granted a Polish commission access to inspect the fragments of former Polish President Lech Kaczynski's Tu-154 plane, which crashed near Russia's western city of Smolensk in 2010, killing all of the passengers aboard, Russian Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko told Sputnik on Monday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th October, 2019) Russia granted a Polish commission access to inspect the fragments of former Polish President Lech Kaczynski's Tu-154 plane, which crashed near Russia's western city of Smolensk in 2010, killing all of the passengers aboard, Russian Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko told Sputnik on Monday."As part of a request by Polish colleagues for legal assistance, representatives of the Russian Investigative Committee, together with employees of the competent authorities of Poland, today began a new inspection of fragments of the plane that crashed in April 2010. This is the second visit of the Polish representatives to Russia this year in connection to the investigation of the Tu-154M crash circumstances," Petrenko said.
The official added that the Russian investigation had no more questions regarding the cause of the crash, which included the plane crew's failure to act in time and fly to an alternate airfield, as well as the mistakes they made during the low-visibility landing.
The Polish delegation of seven people, including representatives of the Polish national prosecutor's office, is inspecting the plane's elements of interest with the participation of the Russian criminal investigations department's staff, Petrenko said, adding that everything was being photographed and recorded.
On April 10, 2010, a Polish jet airliner carrying Kaczynski, his wife, and officials crashed amid heavy fog as it attempted to land at an airfield near Smolensk. All 96 people on board died. The Moscow-based Interstate Aviation Committee said that the flight crew's decision not to reroute the plane to another airdrome led to the crash.
Poland's investigation into the causes behind the crash has been ongoing since the incident, and the country previously suggested that Russia may have allegedly been behind the crash. Russia has denied the allegations. Both sides have accused each other of being uncooperative in their investigations.
