Former Polish President Lech Walesa believes Russia deserves recognition and thanks and not "sputtering" over power in the investigations over the presidential plane crash in Smolensk that killed then Polish President Lech Kaczynski in April.
Russian aviation experts filed on Wednesday a report on the causes of the plane crash that killed Kaczynski in western Russia last April. The report, which placed all the blame on the Polish side, in particular citing human error by the pilots, was criticized in Poland for lacking evidence.
"If we had been any harsher in regard to Russia, then we wouldn't have gotten anything. The [airplane] disaster happened in their country and they can do whatever they like," Walesa told Polish journalists in an interview on Saturday, adding: "This is difficult for me to say but at the present moment, they (the Russian authorities) in a rare case acted well."
The Russian probe into the crash that killed Kaczynski and 95 other high-ranked delegates put the blame on the Polish presidential crew for their decision not to use a reserve aerodrome despite being informed of unfavorable weather conditions at their destination. Polish Interior Minister Jerzy Miller said Wednesday that Russian air traffic controllers should have banned any landing attempt by the crashed plane crew anyway.
"I'd also like to take a jab at the Russians but I can't because everything they've done in regard to the Smolensk case deserves recognition and thanks, not sputtering," Walesa said.
MOSCOW, January 15 (RIA Novosti)
