MOSCOW, August 23. /TASS/. Polish investigators on September 3-7 will take part in re-examination of parts of Polish President Lech Kaczynski’s Tupolev-154 liner, which crashed near Smolensk in 2010, Russian Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko told the media on Thursday.
She said Poland earlier requested permission for investigative procedures in Russian territory.
"The Investigative Committee has met the request. On September 3-7 Polish investigators will participate in re-examination of material evidence - parts and components of the Tupolev-154M plane kept in Smolensk," she said.
The examination will be carried out by investigators of the IC’s central office and staff of the main criminalistics department. The procedure and results will be recorded with the use of special equipment and handed over to the Polish side in accordance with established rules, Petrenko said.
The Tupolev-154M presidential plane of the Polish Air Force crashed in the morning of April 10, 2010 while trying to land at the Severny airdrome, near Smolensk, killing eight crew and 88 passengers, including President Lech Kaczynski. Criminal investigations are continuing in Poland and Russia. In Poland, the investigation has been prolonged till December 31, 2018.
Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) arrived at the conclusion the crash was a result of actions by the crew, who under psychological pressure made the wrong decision to land in bad weather. The Polish government inquiry in its report on the causes of the crash mentioned descent to an impermissible altitude, mistakes by the crew and the fact that the pilot ignored signals from the terrain awareness and warning system (TAWS). Polish experts blamed the incident on descent below the minimum permissible altitude at an excessive speed in weather conditions that ruled out visual contact with the ground and on the belated decision to attempt a second landing.
Earlier, the investigation was conducted by the Polish Military Prosecutor’s Office, which in 2015 presented conclusions from the comprehensive report by experts on the causes of the crash. Six years after the tragedy, at the end of March 2016 Justice Minister, Prosecutor-General Zbigniew Zebro issued instructions to form a new group of prosecutors to push ahead with the investigation of the air disaster.