Prime Minister Calls Conclusions "Unjustified"

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said last week that the findings of a Russian investigation into the accident last April which fatally injured President Lech Kaczynsky are "unacceptable, without question."

The PM cited what he called omissions, errors, and the absence of reaction to requests from the Polish government in calling the conclusions in the report "unjustified." "I'm not saying they are false, but they are not confirmed by tests," Tusk said in a speech in Brussels.

95 people including Poland's President, his wife, military leaders, and several members of parliament were killed when the Soviet-made TU-154 went down on approach on April 10th. The French news service AFP reports that a Russian preliminary report indicated that that the crew ignored warnings about heavy fog at Smolensk in northwest Russia and attempted the landing despite those warnings. There were also reports of passengers in the cockpit shortly before the airplane went down.

Russia gave the Polish government a 200-page report in October, but said it would not publish its findings until Poland had made comments. A 150-page response was sent back to Russia within the 60 day comment period, according to the news service.

FMI: www.ulc.gov.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=419&Itemid=421