Warsaw Asks Moscow to Transfer Records From Kaczynski Plane

Polish Defense Ministry appealed to the Russian authorities with a request for the immediate transfer of recordings from the cockpit of the Tu-154 crashed near Smolensk in 2010 with President Lech Kaczynski on board, the ministry said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin touched on the subject of the plane crash during his annual press conference. He said the bodyguard demanded to land the plane, though the pilot said it was impossible.

"The Defense Ministry today [Saturday] appealed to Russian authorities to demand the immediate transfer of records of conversations in the cockpit of the Tu-154M to Poland. As it comes from yesterday's announcement by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Russian authorities have a text conversation between the pilot and passengers, which has never been available to Poland," the ministry said.

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 in the crash. The Moscow-based Interstate Aviation Committee said that the flight crew’s decision not to reroute the plane to an alternative aerodrome led to the crash.

In February 2016, the Polish Defense Ministry said that Warsaw would restart its investigation into the crash from the very beginning.