Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski said Moscow and Warsaw should continue dialog despite controversies on last year's deadly plane crash in western Russia.
The Russia-based Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) laid the blame for the April 2010 crash of the Polish Air Force Tu-154 that was carrying President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others squarely on the Polish side, and politicians in Poland have since lined up to try to pin blame elsewhere.
"We should try and continue dialog with Russia. Different points of view on the causes of the tragedy should not bring an end to the dialog," Komorowski told the TVN24 channel late on Monday.
The Polish leader earlier criticized Russia for its report, which blames the crash on Polish pilots, for being "one-sided" and "lacking answers" to key questions.
"The Russian report has no information on what was going on in the air traffic control room [shortly before the crash]. But the Polish report would mention that," the Polish president said.
Komorowski also said investigators from the Moscow-based Interstate Aviation Committee should have looked into why Russian air traffic controllers permitted the plane's crew to land in unfavorable weather conditions, but added "It's hard for me to imagine Poland's reaction if Russia had prohibited the landing."
He expressed hope that Russia would "take seriously" Poland's future report on the causes crash and the two sides would continue a "less emotional" discussion.
David Learmount, the safety and operations editor for Flight International magazine, wrote in his blog the Russian controllers are clear of blame, as they could not order a foreign-registered aircraft to land elsewhere, and the Polish pilot had taken the situation into his own hands.
WARSAW, January 25 (RIA Novosti)
