Poland is satisfied with the cooperation between Moscow and Warsaw in investigating the crash of its president's plane, its ambassador to Moscow said on Thursday.
Jerzy Bahr added that Russia should not view the deployment of U.S. Patriot missiles in Poland as a sign of distrust.
The Polish government Tu-154 crashed near Smolensk on the morning on April 10. All 96 people on board died, including President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and a host of senior Polish officials. They had been due to attend a memorial ceremony for the victims of the 1940 Katyn massacre in which Soviet secret police killed thousands of Polish military officers.
"I can say that cooperation was seen from the very beginning," Bahr said in an interview with Ekho Moskvy radio station.
"We are impressed by a quality of the Interstate Aviation Committee and the Emergency Service work. I urge that further cooperation between Russia and Poland in emergency situations was stronger, he said. "We could learn from your experience."
Russian and Polish investigators and experts jointly investigated the causes of the crash, while Polish military prosecutors also conducted a separate investigation.
The ambassador added that the deployment of the U.S. Patriot missiles in Poland is not an element of distrust. "These missiles are a fragment of something that will be built from the point of view of European security," he said.
The United States opened in May a temporary military base near the northern Polish town of Morag, 80 km (50 miles) from the Russian border, in accordance with an agreement negotiated under former President George Bush in 2008.
The U.S. troops will be deployed at the base to train Polish forces until 2012, when the base is expected to become permanent. The move has brought a strong reaction from Moscow, which is particularly displeased by its proximity to Russia's Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad.
Russia suggested the base be moved away from the borders, and the Foreign Ministry said the deployment did not enhance regional security and cooperation.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last month that Moscow expected an explanation on the deployment of U.S. Patriot missiles.
MOSCOW, June 3 (RIA Novosti)
