Russians lied from the beginning

It has been five days since the MH17 flight was shot down near the area of the Ukrainian Donetsk. In Poland, this tragedy for which the pro-Russian separatist are being blamed (this group includes the officers of GRU – Russian Main Intelligence Directorate) suggested clear associations with the plane crash from 10 April 2010.

Within such short period of time after the tragedy which took place in Russia and in which the President Lech Kaczyński lost his life, it seemed that there was a chance for receiving the investigation arrangements quickly. But this did not happen. In both counties, separate investigations are carried out until now and the two aviation accidents committees have issued two separate reports which vary significantly.

Main evidence: the wreckage of the plane belonging to Polish state still remains in Russia, together with the black boxes, and apparently all the mentioned items will not be handed over quickly.

It leads to political tensions and divisions in the Polish society.

The results of the survey conducted for "Rzeczpospolita" by the public opinion research institute "Homo Homini" before the fourth anniversary of the incident indicate that almost every third Pole thinks that we will never get to know the truth about the crash. 38% think that the cause of the crash has already been clarified. 48% think otherwise.

The truth about the actions taken after the accident has been reaching public opinion bit by bit. During the first few days a Russia-favorable narration was imposed, a vision of a reliable investigation was unfolded and the representatives of Polish state did not protest, or even if they did, it was always with a significant delay.

The pilots did not land

Several hours after the crash, Russian news agencies published an unofficial release about the Polish plane reputedly making four attempts to touch down. If this information was true, it would have incriminated the Polish crew considerably. One attempt to land in a thick fog would be considered madness, let alone four.

This information was being authenticated by the representatives of Russian administration. It was confirmed by the local official, Andrei Yevseienkov, and then repeated by Alexander Bastrykin, the head of the Investigative Committee of Russia. When talking about the initial readout of the recorders, he indicated to the fact that the pilot made several attempts to land.

Not until four days after the accident this information was rectified by the Polish prosecutors. – There was only one unfortunate landing attempt. – said colonel Zbigniew Rzepa.

One year after the crash a new information was released saying that the pilots did not want to land at all. Those were the arrangements of the Polish team of experts which examined the case.

– There exist reports which claim that the crew was determined to land regardless of the weather conditions. No, they were not intending to commit suicide. They took a decision to initiate a go-around. – said Jerzy Miller, the head of the team and the then Minister of the Interior and Administration.

The report of the Polish experts issued in July 2011 was not the first one. Seven months before Russians presented their own version. The Interstate Aviation Committee report turned out to be devastating for the Polish side.

It justified the action of the Russian controllers who claimed the plane was "on the track and on the path" and postulated an unverified information saying that Andrzej Błasik, Lieutenant General and the Commander of the Polish Air Force was present in the cockpit of the plane. Russians stated that he was drunk, which was never confirmed by any examination carried out in Poland.

Both sides agreed upon the arrangement saying that the cause of the crash was not a terrorist attack. Yet Russia did not accept the arrangements of the Polish side which indicated that the pilots gave up the attempt to touch down in the fog. According to the Polish side, the readout of the data recorded in the cockpit demonstrated that the flight commander gave the command "go around". In the Russian stenographic records this has been interpreted as "approach". Polish investigators stated that the delay in executing the command was the cause of the accident.

The neglected wreckage

This discrepancy intensified the Polish dispute over the causes of the crash and the way the case was being solved.

The opposition party, Law and Justice accuses the governing party – the Civic Platform of trusting in the acquiescent reaction of Russian authorities – that leading to the loss of control over the investigation and the key evidence.

Their declarations at that time were noble. – It is not only the tragedy of Poland and the Polish people, it is also our tragedy. – said Vladimir Putin, the then Prime Minister of Russia.

At the same time he guaranteed help for the victims' families, free accommodation and psychological support.

– 802 people are working to eliminate the consequences of the catastrophe. – the representatives of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations ensured.

Yet their accuracy was only apparent. Five days after the crash first reports in the Polish media started to appear informing that the wreckage was not property secured. Groups of tourists were let in. Anyone could collect any elements of the debris. – I was sure the crash site had been property secured – said Piotr Paszkowski, the press spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

It quickly occurred he was wrong. Even after the wreckage's return to Poland, witnesses still reported having found victims' remains and parts of plane. The local residents offered the news reporters purchasing metal fragments of the machine.

The TVP (Polish Television) program "Special Mission" released a coverage showing the works carried over on the wreckage. It turned out that the fragments of the plane were being cut and that some elements were being destroyed.

At the same time it turned out that the plane crashed at 8.41 AM and not several minutes later, as media kept on reporting for several weeks. – Why didn't the Polish authorities turn to Russia for taking over the investigation? – Adam Lipiński, vice chairman of Law and Justice asked afterwards. Another possible scenario taken into consideration by the opposition party was – and still is – setting up an international committee.

The missing recorder

The doubts did not concern only this particular case. The way the victims were indentified raised controversy as well. The Minister of Health, Ewa Kopacz, talked about cooperation between Polish and Russian specialists and about DNA testing.

In September 2012 the victims' families went through a shock The exhumation and subsequent autopsy of Anna Walentynowicz's body revealed that somebody else has been buried under her name. Further exhumations proved that there were more cases of corpse replacement. It applied to six victims.

The government together with the investigating officers explained themselves saying they trusted in Russia's accuracy (blaming the victims' families for some of the mistakes). Still other political problems appeared – the absence of the wreckage and the flight recorders.

Only one recorder has been examined in Poland. The electronic black box was read out by its Polish producer and was sent back to Russia afterwards. Two other boxes were only copied by the Polish experts (for the last time – several months ago). 16 seconds of the cockpit recording were missing in the first copy. But this was not the only thing that raised doubts. K3-63 recorder which recorded the flight parameters on a magnetic tape has gone missing.