Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika praised on Thursday Russian-Polish cooperation on the investigation into the plane crash which killed Polish president Lech Kaczynski and said Russia may hand over all documents concerning the accident to Warsaw.
"I would like to note that our positions over the criminal investigation into the plane crash are similar. We will do our best to reveal the causes of this tragedy. We are pursuing common goals and tasks to assure our citizens' rights," Chaika said during a meeting with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Seremet.
Joint work to investigate the accident "laid a strong foundation" for cooperation between Russian and Polish prosecutors, the Russian prosecutor general said.
He said the state commission investigating the causes of the crash is currently discussing handing over "all the materials, including the records of the plane's flight recorders" to the Polish side, which has been carrying out its own investigation into the accident.
A total of 500 pages containing data from investigations have already been handed over to Polish prosecutors, he said.
Kaczynski, his wife, and a delegation of senior Polish officials died when their plane crashed near the west Russian town of Smolensk on April 10 after hitting trees during its approach to the airport. They were on their way to a ceremony to pay tribute to some 20,000 Polish officers murdered by Soviet secret police in the Katyn massacre.
There were 96 people on board the plane, including 8 crewmembers. No one survived.
Chaika said the investigation showed that the plane's engines were operating normally until the moment when the plane hit the trees.
"The technical commission revealed that there was no terrorist attack or blast on board the presidential plane. There were no signs of an emergency situation [on board the plane]," he said.
Seremet said Polish prosecutors were studying data from mobile phones and laptops found at the site of the crash in an attempt to find information which would help reveal the causes of the accident.
Chaika said Russia had requested Poland to allow the Russian Prosecutor's Office to carry out a range of investigative procedures in Poland.
He said inspections had been carried out at the Severny Airport where the tragedy occurred and some 100 witnesses of the plane crash, including employees of the airport, were questioned as part of the investigation.
The Polish prosecutor general expressed hope that further cooperation between Russia and Poland over the accident would be "of the same high quality as it is now, and even better."
MOSCOW, May 6 (RIA Novosti)
