Poland has asked Russia to hand over the cockpit voice recordings, not just transcripts, from the Polish president's plane that crashed in Russia last year, the Polish Interior Ministry said on Friday.
Russian aviation experts filed on Wednesday a final report on the causes of the plane crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski in western Russia last April. The report, which placed all the blame on the Polish side, was criticized in Poland for lacking evidence.
"The Polish commission investigating the causes of the plane crash in Smolensk has asked Russia to provide copies of the cockpit voice recordings but we have not received them yet, we only have the transcript," said ministry spokeswoman Malgorzata Wozniak.
Russian Transportation Minister Igor Levitin said on Thursday that the recordings were officially handed over to Poland shortly after the tragedy.
Edmund Klich, Poland's representative to the Interstate Aviation Commission (MAK) investigating the crash, said the commission had also failed to provide information on conversations between air traffic controllers.
Russian experts said on Wednesday that one of the causes of the crash was the crew's decision not to land at a reserve airport. Polish Interior Minister Jerzy Miller said on Thursday that Russian air traffic controllers should have banned the crew from landing at the Smolensk airport.
Levitin said that according to the rules of special international flights, it is up to the crew commander to decide where to take off and land. He promised to study the recordings of conversations between air traffic controllers more closely.
WARSAW, January 14 (RIA Novosti)
