Smolensk 2010: transcript from control tower released
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
21.01.2015 15:00
Poland's Chief Military Prosecutor has released complete transcripts from the Russian control tower at Smolensk's military airport as part of the ongoing investigation into the April 2010 air tragedy.
The wreckage of the Tu-154 plane. Photo: Polish Radio/Włodzimierz Pac
The 279-page document has been published alongside a separate transcript from the cockpit of a Polish plane (largely carrying journalists) that landed in Smolensk about an hour before the doomed Tu-154 flight.
Comments originally made in Russian or English have been translated into Polish.
The material is sensitive as a 2011 report led by Jerzy Miller, Poland's interior minister at the time, pointed towards mistakes by Russian control tower staff.
All 96 people on board the flight, including President Lech Kaczynski, died in the crash, which occurred in thick fog, shortly before 10 am local time.
Miller's report had placed much of the blame for the disaster on Polish shoulders, but also accused Russia of blunders.
“The calming commands of the controller: 'you're on course, you're on path,'were faulty," the minister argued in 2011.
A Russian report later refuted such accusations.
The Polish delegation that flew to Smolensk on 10 April 2010 was set to attend ceremonies commemorating the 70th anniversary of the WWII Katyn Massacre. (nh)
Source: PAP