"The ambassador of Poland in Paris gave me an idea to pass on the request to you that the Russian Federation pass on the debris of the plane, which crashed near Smolensk in April 2010, to Poland. This move would have a symbolic gesture and reminded," Nicolas Dhuicq, a member of the French legislative defense commission, wrote in a letter to Lavrov, reminding about close historic ties and long friendship between Russia and Poland.
The Russian-made Tu-154 passenger plane carrying then-President of Poland Kaczynski, his wife and a number of high-ranking officials crashed in heavy fog as it attempted to land at an airfield near Smolensk, Russia, on April 10, 2010. None of the 96 people aboard the plane survived.
In 2011, the Moscow-based Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) published a final report on the results of the technical investigation into the catastrophe. The report gave the crew’s decision not to route the plane to an alternative aerodrome as the direct cause of the crash. The report also outlined serious deficiencies in the way the aircraft’s crew was trained and how readiness for the flight was assessed.
