Russia is ignoring requests to return the wreckage of Kaczyński's plane
The Russian side is ignoring Poland’s request to return the wreckage of the Tu-154M presidential plane that crashed near Smolensk in 2010.
This was stated by Poland’s Ambassador to Russia, Krzysztof Krajewski, on RMF24.
As is known, on April 10, 2010, a Tu-154M plane crashed at the “Severny” airport near Smolensk. The tragedy claimed the lives of 96 people, including Polish President Lech Kaczyński and his wife Maria, as well as senior military officials and the last Polish president in exile, Ryszard Kaczorowski.
According to Kraevsky, the Russian side is not responding to Warsaw’s requests to return the plane’s wreckage.
“The Russians are ignoring Poland’s requests to return the wreckage of the presidential Tupolev aircraft that crashed near Smolensk 16 years ago,” the diplomat stated.
He also noted that Polish representatives are not being allowed access to the crash site.
“The entire area is fenced off in such a way that even if the wreckage is still where it was, it cannot be seen from the sections to which we have access,” the ambassador explained.
Krajewski added that Russia’s official position is that the plane’s wreckage is allegedly needed as evidence in the ongoing investigation.
Earlier, the Warsaw District Court issued a ruling on the temporary detention of a Russian air traffic controller who was on duty at the Smolensk airport on April 10, 2010, and is a defendant in the case of the murder of Polish President Lech Kaczyński.
