Poland demands access to site of Smolensk air crash from Russia
Polish Undersecretary of State Bartosz Cichocki handed a note of protest to the Russian Ambassador to Poland, Sergey Andreev, over impediments to accessing to the site of the Smolensk air crash, as outlined in a statement of the Polish Foreign Ministry.
"During today's meeting, MFA Undersecretary of State Bartosz Cichocki handed a diplomatic note to the Russian Federation's Ambassador, Sergey Andreev, and expressed Poland’s serious concern regarding impediments to accessing the site where the government plane Tu-154M crashed near Smolensk on 10 April 2010," reports the website of the Polish department.
It was also noted during the meeting with the Russian Ambassador that both states had committed themselves to building a monument at the site of the Tu-154 crash in 2010, when the ministers of culture of the Republic of Poland and the Russian Federation launched the project of an international design competition to create a memorial to the victims of the disaster.
"The Polish side considers the commitments made so far as binding, and hopes that the Russian side will not allow any activities that would in any way hamper free and unhindered access to the site of the Tu-154 plane crash and that would insult the special nature of this place – both now and in the future ", the Polish Foreign Ministry stressed.
During the meeting, Cichocki noted Poland's readiness to resume talks on plans to build the monument to honor the victims of the catastrophe.
The Polish Deputy Foreign Minister also stressed that, in light of the recent accumulation of mutual misunderstandings, a bilateral dialogue at an adequate level would be necessary to resolve these problems.
On April 10, 2010, a Tu-154M carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski and Polish high-ranking officials crashed near the military airfield near Smolensk. All 96 people who were on board were lost. In April 2017, Poland said that Kaczynski's plane began to disintegrate while still in the air.
In August, Poland said that the damage to the wing of Kaczynski's plane showed signs of an explosion.