AVIATION/ POLAND DISPUTES RUSSIA CRASH REPORT

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said Russia's final report into the air crash that killed Poland's president did not go far enough. He said Warsaw would seek talks with Moscow and, if these failed, it might turn to international experts. The report from MAK blamed Pilot Error, finding the crew had taken unjustified risks under pressure from their superiors. President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others died when their jet crashed while trying to land in fog on April 10, 2010. They had been on their way to Smolensk, western Russia, for a memorial ceremony for Poles massacred by Stalin's secret police at Katyn during World War II. Critics of the report released on Wednesday say it did not properly consider the role of Russian air traffic controllers who had not shut down the fog-bound Airport, though they did repeatedly urge the POLISH AIR FORCE Tupolev TU154M to turn back and make for an alternative Airport. In addition, Poland said the Smolensk controller's command to "level off" was delivered too late, because the aircraft was already at 55ft height. In fact, the Co-Pilot is heard to say: "We go for a go-around", and appears to have made a nose-up input to the controls, but not sufficient to trip the autopilot out, and did not make any further input. That command was issued after the aircraft had descended through its minimum descent height of 330ft, but it was clear from the Smolensk controllers' conversation that they had accepted that the crew were carrying out a descent using on-board navigation aids because they had not requested guidance. Tusk said he did accept the Polish side had borne the main responsibility for the crash. Poland is still conducting its own investigation into the crash but Russia, as the state on whose territory the crash occurred, had the international responsibility for compiling the final report. Lech Kaczynski's twin brother Jaroslaw condemned it as a "joke against Poland", saying the Russian investigators had failed to produce evidence. Yesterday, the widow of the Polish air force commander killed in the crash, Gen Andrzej Blasik, accused Moscow of defaming her husband by suggesting he had contributed directly to the disaster. The report found that the general had piled pressure on the Pilots by entering the flight deck, and it established that he had been drinking - pathology tests found an alcohol level in his blood that was just above the drink-driving limit for most EU states. "There is not a single shred of evidence confirming that my husband mounted pressure or influenced the pilots," Mrs Blasik told reporters. Describing the Tusk government's attitude as "passive", she urged it to "defend the dignity of Polish officers".