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Russian diplomat slams Poland’s accusations against air traffic controllers as absurd

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that by ignoring facts and pushing the situation to the point of absurdity, Warsaw "seems to be trying to score political points from the tragedy and put the blame on Russia" so "another absurd statement by the Polish authorities" came as no surprise

MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/. Moscow believes that Poland’s accusations against Russian air traffic controllers in relation to the 2010 Polish presidential plane crash are absurd, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Thursday.

According to her, by ignoring facts and pushing the situation to the point of absurdity, Warsaw "seems to be trying to score political points from the tragedy and put the blame on Russia" so "another absurd statement by the Polish authorities" came as no surprise.

"We call on our partners… to put an end to this show and stop bullying the Russian air traffic controllers," Zakharova said. She noted that "Warsaw’s demands to extradite them will lead to nowhere." "Under our Constitution, Russia… has no right to extradite its citizens to other countries under any circumstances," she explained.

The Russian diplomat pointed out that a transcript of conversations between the plane’s pilots and the air traffic controllers was available on the Interstate Aviation Committee’s website and those who were interested in figuring out what had happened needed to see it.

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that the Kremlin viewed Warsaw’s accusations and demands negatively.

Poland’s Air Force One, a Tu-154 plane, crashed near the Russian city of Smolensk on April 10, 2010. Under the conditions of reduced visibility, the pilots decided to land the plane. The Tu-154 didn’t make it to the landing strip by a few meters and first struck trees before crashing into the ground. The crash killed all 96 people on board, including Poland’s then President Lech Kaczynski.