Poland will try to force Russia to give up the wreckage of the Kaczynski aircraft through UN court
The Polish government intends to challenge the actions of the Russian Federation in the International Court of Justice in The Hague. For more than seven years, Russia has been unable or unwilling to transfer to Poland the wreckage of the Tu-154 plane that claimed Polish President Lech Kaczyński’s life.
President Kaczyński perished with 96 other people when his Presidential plane crashed under mysterious circumstances not far from the Smolensk North Airport on April 10, 2010. He and his delegation were heading to a commemoration ceremony dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Katyn tragedy.
Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said on channel TVP1, "At the moment the complaint to the International Court of Justice in the case concerning the wreckage of the plane is in the preparation stage. However, presently a final political decision still has to be made in this case. But I believe that, yes, we will file a complaint, since for a year we have tried to [unsuccessfully] influence Russia in various ways."
He recalled that Poland already appealed to the U.S. to help bring back the wreckage, but the administration of President Barack Obama refused to do that. "I spoke already in December 2015 to John Kerry. However, Obama had another vision of relations with Russia," Waszczykowski said.
Waszczykowski also added that Poland intends to turn to the new President Trump’s administration with this request.
The Polish Foreign Ministry had already announced its intention to officially ask the Russian Federation what investigative activities during the past year have led to the fact that Russia has not returned the wreckage.