WARSAW, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Polish President Andrzej Duda said Friday that Russia's "unwillingness" to return the wreckage of the presidential plane that crashed in Smolensk caused suspicion.
"Under normal circumstances, someone who has nothing to hide, would return the property of another country... the fact that they do not want to give up the wreckage raises all sorts of speculation," Duda said at a press conference.
He added that it is obvious that the plane crashed in Russia, but Poland was its owner. "Poland bought the plane, therefore the wreck is also our property," said Duda.
Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz announced Thursday that he will form a special investigative group to thoroughly investigate causes of the crash.
Macierewicz said that he is in possession of "substantiated" proof that the real course of events was "manipulated, distorted and falsified" by the Civic Platform (PO) government.
The Polish air force plane was heading to Russia to take part in events commemorating Polish victims of Katyn executions in 1940, but tragically crashed in the city of Smolensk on April 10, 2010. Apart from President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria Kaczynska, more than 90 high officials and plane staff died in the crash.
The previous international investigation showed that the direct cause of the crash was the crew's failure to make timely decision to divert the plane to the standby airport and attempt to land in Smolensk by all means.
