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Moscow slams Poland’s allegations of Russian involvement in Smolensk air crash

According to Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Poland’s minister of national defense and foreign minister have once again made a number of Russophobic statements that are beyond absurd

MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/. The latest round of Russophobic statements from Warsaw are leading to a further deterioration in relations with Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday, commenting on recent statements by Polish authorities that Russia allegedly had a hand in the crash of Poland’s presidential airplane near the Russian city of Smolensk in 2010.

According to Zakharova, Poland’s Minister of National Defense Antoni Macierewicz and Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski have once again made a number of Russophobic statements that are beyond absurd.

"The essence of the statement is that Russia was allegedly involved in the crash of Poland’s presidential airplane near the Russian city of Smolensk in 2010," Zakharova said. "These irresponsible and inflammatory statements reflect the political situation in Poland and further undermine the relations between our countries," she added.

Zakharova noted that the head of the subcommittee on the re-investigation of Poland’s presidential plane crash had recently pointed to a new recording of the talks that Smolensk North airport’s dispatchers had held between them and also with the pilots. "I’d like to point out that all the recordings of the dispatchers’ talks between them and the pilots were made public, and published back in January 2011," Zakharova said. "The reconstruction of the plane crash is available on the Web, including audio recordings of these talks."

"All these recordings have been thoroughly assessed by the international commission, which included Poland’s representatives first and foremost," the spokeswoman said. "All these materials were officially forwarded to Poland who has published them."

"If Poland insists on having received some new materials concerning this case, then we call on the country’s authorities to present them to the international community and to us in order to avoid speculations and further misunderstanding," Zakharova concluded.