The family of late Polish president Lech Kaczynski who died with 95 others in an April 2010 air crash in western Russia said on Monday that Moscow may have plotted to assassinate him.
"Today the hypothesis of an assassination plot against the Polish president is more plausible than ever," Marcin Dubieniecki, the husband and lawyer of the late Kaczynski's only child, daughter Marta, told Polish media on Monday.
"There are many things indicating that (the Russians would have wanted) to assassinate Lech Kaczynski," Ms Dubieniecki told Poland's commercial TVN24 news channel.
Kaczynski was known for his deep suspicion of Poland's Soviet-era master Moscow and for holding a staunch policy line against Russian moves in the region.
According to Ms Dubieniecki, Moscow may have been motivated by "the possible re-election of president Lech Kaczynski, revenge for (his backing) Georgia and by Russian interests in relations between Moscow and the European Union."
In its final report issued last Wednesday in Moscow, Russian investigators blamed the catastrophe on the incompetence of the plane's Polish pilots and pressure from senior officials on the flight to land despite dangerous weather warnings.
Ms Dubieniecki accused Russian investigators of ignoring an attempt by Polish pilots to regain altitude and abort the landing 22 seconds prior to the crash.
The attempt "failed because the crew was misinformed about the plane's altitude and about the position of the landing course and path," Ms Dubieniecki charged.
The Russian crash report stirred controversy in Poland, with liberal Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying Poland would present its own version after he termed the Russian findings "incomplete".
Meanwhile Kaczynski's surviving twin and conservative opposition leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said Moscow's report "made a mockery of Poland."
The report clears local air traffic controllers and the technical condition of the regional airport in Smolensk of having been a factor in the crash.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Polish counterpart Bronislaw Komorowski pledged on Friday to continue dialogue.
The attempt "failed because the crew was misinformed about the plane's altitude and about the position of the landing course and path," Ms Dubieniecki charged.
The Russian crash report stirred controversy in Poland, with liberal Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying Poland would present its own version after he termed the Russian findings "incomplete".
Meanwhile Kaczynski's surviving twin and conservative opposition leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said Moscow's report "made a mockery of Poland."
The report clears local air traffic controllers and the technical condition of the regional airport in Smolensk of having been a factor in the crash.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Polish counterpart Bronislaw Komorowski pledged on Friday to continue dialogue.
Lets not forget the shooting of survivors.
ReplyDeleteDigital Enhancement Of Amateur Plane Crash Site Footage (w English Subtitles) In Smolensk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7JoPhUS44I