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In view of reports stating that the Poland’s Military Prosecutor’s Office has brought charges against Russian team of Smolensk-Severny airfield flight controllers, I have to remind that the Russia’s Investigative Committee continue investigating a criminal case over a Polish Tu-154M plane crash that happened on 10 April 2010.

According to the data Russian investigators have, no violations have been revealed in the actions of the flight control team. They acted strictly following both: instructions and the international regulations. The transcripts of the records from the flight control unit have been in open access for a long time by now. Those transcripts contain warnings for the crew that the airport was not able to accept the plane, a fix of a decision-making altitude of 100 meters, the confirmation given by the crew that they were ready to make a second circle and consequent warnings of flight controllers that the ground was too close and it was necessary to make the second circle.

The crew had ignored all those warnings while in accordance with international civil aviation regulations having been responsible for the flight and for the decision to land the plane. I would like to remind that the technical commission of the Interstate Aviation Committee during its inquest did not find any violations in the actions of the flight controllers.

I also have to point out, that following requests of the Polish side, investigators of the Russia’s Investigative Committee interrogated persons who had any information on the crash, including the flight control team. All transcripts were timely passed to the Polish Prosecutor’s Office. We continue execute Polish requests of legal aid and are ready to do that in future and provide necessary information in the interest of the investigation. So we are expecting that the Polish side will execute our requests on legal aid as well.

As for the final conclusions on the causes of the crash, it can be done only comparing and analyzing all factors and evidence the investigators will have at their disposal, including after receiving the results of technical and other forensic expert examinations.

Head of Media Relations                                                                                                                            V.I. Markin