Polish Tu-154 Debris to Remain in Russia Until Prosecutors Close Case

WARSAW (Sputnik) - The wreckage of the Polish government plane Tu-154, which crashed near Smolensk in 2010, will remain in Russia until the Polish prosecutor's office closes the case on the crash, Russian Ambassador to Warsaw Sergey Andreev told Sputnik.

A Tupolev Tu-154 plane, which was carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and other top public and military members of a Polish delegation, crashed while approaching Smolensk Airport in Russia on April 10, 2010.

A year after the incident, the Interstate Aviation Committee of the former Soviet republics found that the direct cause of the crash was the crew's decision not to divert to an alternative airfield in fog, with inadequate crew training as a systemic factor. In December 2023, Polish Minister of the Interior and Administration Marcin Kierwinski said that Polish authorities would abandon versions about Russia's responsibility for the Tu-154 plane crash.

"I note that the investigation has been completed only by the aviation authorities. The Polish prosecutor's office is still in no hurry to close the case. Accordingly, our Investigative Committee is also continuing to work on it. In accordance with Russian law, until all procedural actions are completed, the wreckage of the crashed Polish airplane should remain at the disposal of the Russian investigation as material evidence in the case," the ambassador said.

Poland abandoned versions about Russia's responsibility for the crash because it dissolved the commission established in 2015 that sought to blame Russia and then-Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk for the crash after Tusk became the country's prime minister again, Andreev said.