MOSCOW. March 7 (Interfax) - Russian Investigative Committee detectives and their Polish colleagues have completed joint procedures in probing the crash of the plane of Polish President Lech Kaczynski in 2010, Russian Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told Interfax on Thursday.
"Detectives of the Russian Investigative Committee and the Polish Main Military Prosecutor's Office jointly investigated the crash of the Polish Tupolev Tu-154 plane in landing on the Smolensk-Severny airport on April 10, 2010, from February 18 through March 7, 2013, in Moscow," Markin said.
The detectives examined trees and aircraft fragments and took plane samples for comparative analysis, he said.
"More than 300 samples were taken for various tests done in Russia and Poland," Markin said.
Russian and Polish experts made ballistic, metal and explosive testing.
"The experts concluded from the tests that the examined objects carried no traces of explosion," he said.
The Polish Air Force Tu-154 crashed in the vicinity of Smolensk on April 10, 2010. The plane was carrying an official delegation led by President Kaczynski to Katyn for attending remembrance events. The crash killed 96 people: 88 passengers and eight crewmembers.
The Interstate Aviation Committee published the final report of the technical inquiry into the plane crash in January 2011. It recognized as the cause of the crash the crew's decision to fly to an alternative airfield and tagged as systemic reasons shortcomings in flight support and crew training.
The report was presented to Russian detectives who probed the case in cooperation with Polish colleagues.