Russia refuses to hand plane wreckage to Poland

LINK HERE

Russia has refused to hand over to Poland the wreckage of a Polish government airliner five years after it crashed in western Russia killing Poland’s president, Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria and dozens of the country’s political, military and civil elite.

All 96 people on board died when the plane crashed just 
before reaching Smolensk airport on 10 April, 2010, in what is considered as the greatest ­tragedy to strike Poland since the end of the Second World War and a disaster that still casts a shadow over troubled Polish-Russian relations.

Along with the president, the crash claimed the lives of the heads of the country’s army, navy and air force, and the head of the national bank.

A Russian committee investigating the causes of the crash has rebuffed repeated Polish requests for the remnants of the Tupolev Tu-154M to be handed over, claiming Poland has failed to respond to requests for legal assistance.

“I consider co-operation with the Polish authorities over the course of the investigation as constructive and fruitful,” said General Vladimir Markin, the committee’s head.

“Nevertheless there remain requests from the Russian side that have not been met by our Polish colleagues, which makes it impossible to make the final decisions in this case.

“The wreck of the plane is actual evidence and therefore its transfer will only be considered after the completion of the investigation,” he continued, adding “no country in the world would hand over physical evidence while an investigation is in process”.

Although both an initial Russian investigation and an official Polish inquiry both concluded the tragedy was an accident, Russia’s determination to maintain possession of the wreck has fuelled conspiracy theories in Poland that Moscow may have had a hand in the disaster.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the dead president’s twin brother and the leader of Poland’s main opposition party, has alleged his brother was assassinated and that both the Polish and Russian governments were involved.

Yesterday, a Polish parliamentary committee published a report claiming the aircraft was brought down by bomb blasts as it was coming into land at Smolensk. The committee’s chairman Antoni Macierewicz, a party colleague of the late president who has long espoused the assassination theory, pointed the finger of blame at Russia. He argued the killing of Mr Kaczynski, a political hawk when it came to Russia, removed an obstacle to Russian expansion in western Europe.

Mr Macierewicz added that “the evidence is clear that no one other than the president of the Russian Federation benefited more from the death of the president of Poland and the elite that upheld the country’s independence”.

Does the OP have an angle on this? An opinion?

Russia have clearly decided to just be antagonistic for the sake of it. Cutting off one's nose to spite their face is something Russia seems to be doing out of habit at the mo. It's just not nice to play politics out of a tragedy, unless there is something to hide.

a reply to: paraphi

My only angle is that it is very strange that they would not hand over the plane after 5 years. I mean the plane had Poland's president on board. It seems to be a very bad foreign relations strategy to not hand it over.

originally posted by: defiythelie
a reply to: paraphi

My only angle is that it is very strange that they would not hand over the plane after 5 years. I mean the plane had Poland's president on board. It seems to be a very bad foreign relations strategy to not hand it over.

Poland's investigation did not reach the same results as the Russian investigation. In addition to faulting the air crew, Poland also faulted the air traffic controllers at the time.

Russia came away from that crash with an intelligence coup.

THEY seem to be covering something UP ,me thinks...

originally posted by: cavtrooper7
THEY seem to be covering something UP ,me thinks...

Considering they were heading to Russia over Russia finally admitting they were behind the Katyn massacre and not the Nazis, why would we think Russia would be covering something up?

lol

a reply to: defiythelie

Perhaps the Russians have sold the wreckage forward as scrap, and simply do not have it anymore.

a reply to: defiythelie

Hm...i wonder how would killing a Polish president remove obstacles of Russian expansion into wester Europe ?

How does that work ? So if the president is killed...somehow the entire region is helpless and ripe to just walk over ?

Was he Jesus ?

Also...why would Russia do it....right on their doorstep ? Wouldnt some clandestine operation that points away from the actual killers serve a better purpose ?

I dont know...maybe i just watch too many movies.

Edit: to be fair...refusing to turn over the wreckage seems suspicious...after so many years.

It could be that Russia air traffic is to blame for the accident so thet try to hide it.

The cockpit voice recordings was released for this accident, there clearly was NO BOMB sounds on it, however I DID hear GROUND WARNINGs being voiced and alarms sounding then the cockpit crew screaming as they realised the ground was in their faces.

Not once did I hear any KABOOMS of bombs on the recording.

a reply to: bullcat

Where did the bomb comment come from?

From the conclusion it was clear a failed landing occurred. Even the Polish investigation reached that conclusion. The disagreement is Russia completely blames the Polish pilots while Poland not only blames their pilots, but the Russian air traffic controllers.