Maria Zakharova
Moscow considers Warsaw's plans to arrest Russian dispatchers linked to the death of Polish President Lech Kaczynski in the 2010 catastrophe near Smolensk as absurd. This was stated by the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova, speaking at a briefing.
She called on the Polish authorities to “stop the show” with an investigation into the incident and called Warsaw's plans to arrest the Russians a bullying.
“I would like to remind you that for several years now a conspiracy theory of the tragic incident has been persistently being promoted in Poland (…) with the aim of blaming the Russian side for the incident,” the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said. She recalled that the causes of the disaster were identified back in 2011. According to the diplomat, the Polish side is trying to “earn political points from the tragedy.”
Earlier it became known that Poland initiated the procedure for the arrest of Russian dispatchers associated with the Tu-154 disaster, in which Kaczynski died. We are talking about three employees of the Smolensk-Severny airport – Pavel P., Viktor R. and Nikolai K. They are accused of deliberately provoking a plane crash that resulted in the death of many people.
As the press secretary of the Polish Prosecutor General's Office Ewa Bialik explained, if the court satisfies the petition of the Prosecutor General's Office, the dispatchers will be put on the international wanted list. According to the Interfax agency, Russia will not extradite its citizens to foreign states.
On April 10, 2010, a Polish delegation led by President Lech Kaczynski flew on a Tu-154M government plane to Katyn. The plane crashed near the Smolensk-Severny airfield. All 96 people died. The Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) concluded that the tragedy happened due to the decision of the crew to land the liner in adverse weather conditions.
