Polish officials demand answers

23rd April 2010

© TVN24 Russian soldiers were seen changing runway light bulbs after the crash Share:

Poland has demanded to know why Russian soldiers and policemen changed landing strip light bulbs at Smolensk airport shortly after the crash that killed President Kaczynski and large numbers of the country’s political and military elite.

They soldiers were caught on camera by Belarusian photographer Sergei Serebro merely an hour after the tragic event. Upon being spotted, Serebro was approached by officials who demanded he stopped taking any more pictures and leave.

Combined, the two incidents have left a shadow of doubt as to the condition of the light bulbs before the attempted landing.

Colonel Zbigniew Rzepa, a spokesman for the Chief Military Prosecutors Office, announced this week that Polish prosecutors have asked the Russians to explain what military personnel were doing with the bulbs so soon after the crash.

“It’s certainly a line of enquiry that we need to pursue,” he said.

Poland is also asking Moscow to hand over the recordings contained inside the black boxes recovered at the site of the crash.

Until now, Russian officials are the only people to have had access to the information.

“Although we have participated in legal proceedings in Smolensk, we are not allowed access to the contents without Russia’s consent,” says Colonel Ireneusz Szelag.

Attorney General Andrzej Seremet said, “An explanation as to why the government plane crashed near Smolensk will require painstaking work and may take some time.”

He went on to add that while the crash is currently a Russian investigation and all evidence is at its disposal, the Russian side is “friendly, and willing to cooperate”.