Poles critical of Russian plane crash probe: Survey

WARSAW - Most Poles are critical of a Russian probe into the plane crash in April that killed the Polish president and 95 others, an opinion poll said Friday.

The survey indicates Poles’ trust in their Russian counterparts has fallen since the crash. When asked the same question in May, some 34 percent of Poles had a negative view of the Russian investigation.

The survey Friday said 56 percent of Poles have a negative view of the ongoing Russian probe into the crash, while 53 percent of Poles think Russian authorities do not care about finding out what caused the crash.

The crash April 10 killed President Lech Kaczynski and dozens of the country’s military and political elite after the plane smashed into a forest in bad weather in Smolensk, Russia.

Russia and Poland are currently cooperating on two separate probes into the crash. Polish authorities at first praised their Russian counterparts for their willingness to work together. But more recently they have been critical at how quickly Russia was turning over documents to Polish investigators.

Some 62 percent of Poles were critical of how Moscow was turning over materials to Warsaw, said the survey of some 1,000 people conducted by polling institute CBOS.