WARSAW, (Reuters) – Polish Defence Minister Bogdan Klich resigned yesterday after a government report chronicled a litany of errors and neglect by the crew of the military plane that crashed in Russia last year killing Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others.
The long-awaited report said the crew of the TU-154 Tupolev plane were poorly trained and ignored safety regulations. It said mistakes by Russian ground staff and poor conditions at Smolensk airport also contributed to the crash.
“I accepted (Klich’s) resignation because he felt his further presence in the Defence Ministry would hamper implementation of recommendations made in the report,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk told a news conference.
The 328-page report provides ammunition to Tusk’s rivals, including Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the late president’s twin brother and leader of the right-wing opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, in campaigning for an October 9 parliamentary election.
