Readers mull over Russian findings on Polish presidential death

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Russian report blames Poles for death of Polish president in air crash

Do you think Poles are right to be suspicious of the Russian findings?

I do not see too much denial of overall responsibility of Polish services and the crew for the plain crash; Poles, generally, are not happy about the fact, that the work of the Russian tower is missing in the report; there are concerns about the radar system, which - had it been working properly - would warn that the plane was off it's path and that it was too low. There are some other concerns, too; generally, not denying that the fault is mostly on Polish side, there is a feeling, that the report is incomplete. -- Artuur, Poland

In my opinion the accident was fully caused by our Polish side. However it is so hard for the government and the main opposition party to confess that the whole system they are responsible for was flawed and as a consequence the military pilots were improperly trained. Moreover we, as the Polish society, are so used to the opinion that our pilots are the best in the world. It's obvious that we are very sensitive in this case but we should be clever enough not to worsen relations with Russia that cannot be blamed in this case. -- Mariusz, Poland

I think the Poles are right. It might be true that the deceased Polish president expressed his 'eagerness to land' as early as possible to venerate the honor of the Poles that died in 1940. However, it is unacceptable to think that an official, being an expert in law, but not in aviation, should have put the pilots under pressure. They should have warned the crew of the fog and the danger associated with it before. No official could have afforded such a 'nonsense childish' pressure. I have two explanations: Either no side is to blame or the Russians are obscuring the truth about the case and themselves. -- Stanislav, Slovakia

I agree with most of the findings about the wrong decision to land in such bad visibility and the many mistakes that pilots made. But the Russians withheld too much crucial information for which Miller and Klich were not given, even though they repeatedly asked for it. The Russians said the technical condition of the landing area was not an issue but we know there was not proper light. Some light bulbs were out. They did not disclose telephone conversations between Moscow and the controllers. I wish the international media and specialists in an airplane crashes were more involved and held everyone accountable. I don't like it when someone is making themselves look right when they were wrong. This is my point of view. -- Bozena, Canada

Compiled by Stuart Tiffen
Editor: Rob Turner