Smolensk Plane Transcript Released to Public

This week has brought contradictory statements on the release of the transcript from the cockpit of the presidential TU-154 that crashed near Smolensk on 10 April, killing Polish President Lech Kaczyński and 95 others. On Sunday, the justice minister declared that the documents would be made public, which was followed by an opposing statement by Interior Minister Jerzy Miller. Miller had flown to Moscow on Monday to pick up the recordings and transcript of the final conversation before the crash of the airplane, and announced that the Kremlin would block the release of the information based on Chicago Convention rules.

Today, however, the transcript was released by the Polish government, and a PDF version can be downloaded at the official website of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland here. The flight data recorders or “black boxes” containing the recordings were handed to Minister Miller yesterday, and a decision to release the transcripts was made today after a meeting of the National Security Council.

At the moment, the transcript is available in Russian and Polish only. However, please check back soon for an English translation.

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