According to the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, the air crash of Polish Tu-154 near Smolensk was the result of a wrong decision of President Lech Kaczynski. Belarusian leader stated that during his working visit to Gomel region. "We deplore deeply. It's a tragedy", the head of Belarusian State said.
«Not only the president died, but almost 100 people, including the leaders — the leaders of this friendly, very close to us people. Of course, this tragedy extends to our hearts,» the President of Belarus said, BelTA informs.
As Alexander Lukashenko believes, to determine exactly what caused the crash, it is necessary to wait for the findings of commission, which is investigating it, but, according to Belarusian leader, «you’ll see that everything was fine with the technical equipment, here was a wrong decision of the main person».
«I do not want to say who is guilty and who is not, though it is absolutely clear for me. If the airplane is flying with the president on board, when there is a departure from the norm, the crew commander reports about this directly to the president. The president asks whether it is possible to land the plane in this case, but he says the last word. He takes a decision: to land the plane or not. But the pilots have the right not to obey», the head of Belarusian State stressed.
If I make a decision, the pilots obey it without fail, Lukashenko
However, Alexander Lukashenko insists that a final decision on further pilots’ actions, at least in Belarus, is taken only by the President. «It’s unacceptable: if I make a decision the pilots obey it without fail», Belarusian leader said.
«The pilot came, I believe, reported to the president, especially since the plane four times tried to approach, there was zero visibility. The president decided to land», the head of Belarusian state said.
«It is clear who is responsible. Your blame or not, you’re the first person, you bear responsibility for it. And we, the presidents, need to understand that there are hundreds of people more — who have families — sitting in the plane. It’s not correct to talk about that blame of the pilots, it does not happen», Alexander Lukashenko said.
According to the president of Belarus, the tragedy near Smolensk is «a very serious lesson» for everybody. «It’s very sad that the president died. When the president dies, it’s very bad for the country, and for the host side», the President stated.
To prove his words, Belarusian leader noted that Russia’s image has already damaged significantly by this catastrophe, because people started to refuse to fly on Russian planes, and several countries have decided to refuse to use the aircraft Tu-154, which had been used so far as the aircraft of the heads of states and governments, CTV reports.
