I have explored much of the publically available evidence on the Smolensk catastrophe of April 10, 2010. Some documents and photos will stay in my memory for a long time. Some of them shocked me, some confused me and looking at others just hurt.
Photos of the recently released scratched Polish coat of arms on a rugged sheet of metal, a fragment of the Tupolev plane which crashed in Smolensk, are painful to see.
This is a precious and unique piece of evidence, as the Russians had never before shown a photograph from within the makeshift shed and hangar in which they hide what remains of the government aircraft.
Let us be real, the photographs are all part of Putin’s “Smolensk Theater”, as we called it a few months ago. Do not be tricked by the Russian government pretending to adhere to security procedures or the fake sterility of the area which contains the plane’s remains. It is all a lie.
The cooperation on the investigation declared by the Russian side is also fiction. They supposedly promise Poles unhindered access to the wreckage, but only on very precise rules which in reality exclude important necessary actions of our prosecutors. There is no permission to use Polish equipment, such as 3D scanners and drones, and the Russian equipment necessary for a thorough investigation is conveniently currently being used elsewhere.
Such cases of fake cooperation are common when it comes to Russia. There is a whole list of requests for legal assistance, which Moscow only carries out partially or outright ignores.
At the top of this list, there is the notorious request for the return of the plane wreckage. The answer is always an unchanging rejection from Russian authorities, which has given the Polish opposition an opportunity to show off when they mockingly ask: Where is the wreckage?
I’m not a supporter of the eternal return to the past and blaming all of Poland’s misfortunes on Donald Tusk and Ewa Kopacz, but in this case, the question regarding the return of the remains of the plane left in Smolensk should be directed at them.
The sin of creating a mutual investigation with the Russians was committed by Donald Tusk, Kopacz and their associates. They must have known that we were not and still are not dealing with a normal partner.
Russia is an international bandit. Where is the wreckage? Exactly where Tusk and the opposition left it: in Russia’s claws.
