Warsaw Accuses Russian Traffic Controllers of Provoking Deadly 2010 Plane Crash

On April 10, 2010, a passenger plane carrying Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and a number of high-ranking Polish officials crashed as it attempted to land at an airfield covered in heavy fog near the Russian city of Smolensk. All 96 people on board died.

WARSAW (Sputnik) — Polish prosecutors have bought forward accusations toward Russian air traffic controllers and a "third person" of deliberately provoking the 2010 plane crash that killed its then-president and other officials, the deputy prosecutor said Monday.

"Evidence has been collected and obtained during the investigation, which allowed prosecutors to formulate new accusations against air traffic controllers, as well as a third person in the flight control tower," deputy head of the National Public Prosecutor's Office Marek Pasionek said.

Pasionek said the evidence serves to level "charges of the crime of deliberately provoking the catastrophe that resulted in the death of a large number of people."

On April 10, 2010, a Russia-made passenger plane carrying Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and a number of high-ranking Polish officials crashed as it attempted to land at an airfield covered in heavy fog near Smolensk. All 96 people on board died in the Tu-154M crash.

The Polish Defense Ministry said last year that Warsaw would restart its investigation into the crash from scratch.