WARSAW, Poland (AP) – A special commission of the Polish government has reinforced its previous claims that the 2010 plane crash that killed President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others in Russia was the result of Moscow’s assassination plot.
The commission’s latest report, released on Monday, alleges that a deliberate detonation of explosives caused the April 10, 2010 crash of the Soviet-made Tu-154M plane, killing Kaczynski, the First Lady and 94 other government officials. and military personnel were killed as were many prominent Poles.
Her death was the result of “unlawful interference on the part of Russia,” Commission head Antoni Macierewicz said at a press conference.
“The main and undeniable evidence of interference was an explosion in the left wing…followed by an explosion in the middle of the plane,” said Macierewicz, who was defense minister in Poland’s right-wing government from 2015 to 2018.
He denied that the Polish pilots or crew members made any mistakes despite the inclement weather at the time of the crash.
The report reiterates many previous claims by the commission appointed by the government, whose key figure is the main ruling Law and Justice party leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the late president’s twin.
It comes at a time when Russia has unleashed a war against Poland’s neighbor Ukraine, and amid currently strained relations between Warsaw and Moscow. Poland supports Ukraine in its fight against Russia and calls for very strict sanctions against Moscow for its February 24 invasion of Ukraine.
The latest report fuels renewed anti-Russian sentiment among some Poles, mostly supporters of the nationalist government, and appears to be an attempt to solidify the electoral base of the Law and Justice party founded by the Kaczynski twins in 2001.
Suspicion is further fueled by Russia’s refusal to return the rubble, complicating Poland’s investigation.
Previously, two separate reports by Polish and Russian experts on aviation incidents said that the crash on approach in thick fog to Smolensk Airport, which did not have sophisticated aviation equipment, was the result of human error in adverse weather conditions.
They found no evidence of third-party negligence.