Polish ruling party leader points to explosion as causing 2010 crash

Speaking at commemorations marking seven years since the disaster in western Russia, Jarosław Kaczyński, leader of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, also said that Russian control tower staff were likely at fault in how they “without a doubt deliberately” guided in the Polish presidential plane.

His comments came after a report by a government commission investigating the crash presented similar conclusions earlier on Monday.

Kaczyński told a crowd waving flags in the Polish red and white national colours near the presidential palace in central Warsaw: “We know with a very high degree of certainty that there was an explosion” on the plane.

“Up to now there were various theories and we often approached the truth but there was not this degree of credibility,” he added.

An earlier commission set up by the previous Civic Platform-led government blamed mistakes by the Polish pilots and Russian air traffic controllers for the crash. A Russian report put the blame on the Poles.

A new commission to investigate the crash was set up by Law and Justice after it came to power in late 2015.

The plane carrying President Lech Kaczyński -- Jarosław Kaczyński’s twin brother -- and 95 others crashed as it was approaching the runway of the Smolensk military airport on 10 April 2010. All aboard were killed.

(pk)