Russia to Send Back Plane Wreckage
Published: December 19, 2012 (Issue # 1740)
MOSCOW — Russia’s foreign minister has promised his Polish counterpart that Russia will return as soon as possible the wreckage from the plane crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others.
Warsaw has expressed frustration that it has not received the wreckage more than two years after the plane crashed outside Smolensk in heavy fog. Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski last week asked the European Union’s foreign policy chief to pressure Russia on the issue.
At a news conference with Sikorski on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: “We hope, it’s in our general interest, to complete the investigation as soon as possible and send the plane’s wreckage to the Polish side.”
Polish investigators say Russian air-traffic controllers played a role in the crash, along with pilot error.