Wreckage of the presidential Tu-154 in Smolensk. Photo: east news

Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said that Russia is partly to blame for the Smolensk catastrophe in which President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others were killed almost one year ago.

Speaking to the BBC’s Newsnight programme, Tusk said that the “Russians are trying to cover up [some aspects of the catastrophe] not because of some dark secrets, but [because] as a rule they do not like to admit their own faults and weaknesses.”

Prime Minister Tusk added that the report which was released by the MAK Interstate Aviation Committee on the crash is one-sided, stating that even though it highlights errors made by the Polish side, it leaves out Russian faults which were “obvious.”

Speaking about the political opinions voiced by Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski on the Smolensk catastrophe, Donald Tusk said that “I can understand the brother of a president who died in such tragic circumstances, […] but I don’t accept what he says [as a result].”

“Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s long-standing dislike for the Russians, along with his political rivalry with myself, have often led him to voice unjust opinions,” Tusk stated, adding “that’s something I have to live with.”

However, in the same BBC programme, Jaroslaw Kaczynski said that “Donald Tusk has created a situation whereby people in the West ask themselves the question whether Poland has been pushed into a Russian sphere of influence.”

Speaking about the catastrophe, Kaczynski said that “Russian decisions contributed to the disaster – whether they were made on purpose or rather it was just usual chaos, is hard to discern.”

Jaroslaw Kaczynski also told the BBC that he felt guilty that he did not force his brother Lech to take the train to Smolensk for the 70th anniversary commemorations of the Katyn massacre.

Meanwhile, Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs who made an appearance on Newsnight said that the MAK report is final; the investigation is based on facts, and is “unprecedently clear.” (jb)

Source: PAP/BBC