Russian air traffic staff "deliberately" caused the downing of a plane carrying the Polish president in 2010, prosecutors claim.

Poland's National Prosecutor Marek Kuczynski said there was "no doubt" that one of the causes of the crash was the behaviour of those in the control tower.

The Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft belonging to the Polish Air Force came down near the city of Smolensk in April 2010, killing all 96 on board, including many members of Poland's elite.

Among them were the Polish president at the time, Lech Kachzynski, the chief of Polish General Staff and the president of the National Bank of Poland.

Image: Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of Poland's conservative PiS (Law and Justice) party

No technical faults were found in the plane afterwards and early investigations blamed the aircrew for failing to approach in a safe manner.


Poland opened a new investigation into the disaster after the 2015 election of the Law and Justice party, which is led by the twin brother of the late president.

Mr Kuczynski has now said his findings have shown that two Russian air traffic controllers and a third person in the control tower willingly contributed to the disaster.

They were guilty of "deliberately causing a catastrophe," he said.

At a press conference he said Poland wants to question the three Russians but said no more details about the evidence can be revealed until they have been spoken to.

Image: Police were forced to secure a memorial to the plane crash at the one year anniversary amid high tensions in Poland

Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the new claims.

"The circumstances of this tragedy have been thoroughly studied, and we cannot agree with such conclusions," Mr Peskov said.

Two separate major investigations into the crash, one carried out by Poland and the other by Russia, both blamed the pilots.

The Polish investigation said at the time that Russian air traffic controllers had given incorrect and confusing information but did not blame the Russians for what happened.

The Russians at the time put all the blame on Poland.