Russia charges soldiers over Polish plane wreck theft
Russian prosecutors say four soldiers have been charged with stealing the credit cards of a passenger killed when the Polish president's plane crashed in Russia in April.
About 6,000 Polish zloty (£2,000) was withdrawn on the cards, according to Polish investigators.
Russia initially denied both the theft and arrests had taken place.
Russia's defence ministry now says it will pay compensation if the suspects' guilt is confirmed.
The Russian prosecutor's investigations office said four Russian soldiers had been charged with "theft carried out by a group with premeditation", according to state media.
Three of the four soldiers had previous criminal convictions, including robbery and counterfeiting, the prosecutor's office said.
The soldiers have already admitted their involvement, a spokesman was quoted by Itar-Tass and Ekho Moskvy as saying. The Russian reports said the sum stolen was more than 60,000 roubles (£1,300).
'Embarrassing admission'
The men had been responsible for sealing off the crash site at Smolensk airport.
The Polish government plane crashed on 10 April, killing President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others.
On Monday Monika Lewandowska, a spokeswoman for Warsaw prosecutors, said that the first withdrawal on two stolen cards was made about two hours after the crash.
Ms Lewandowska said other withdrawals took place over the next three days.
The cards belonged to Andrzej Przewoznik, a historian who oversaw wartime memorials in Poland.
He was one of a high-level delegation of Poles on their way to commemorate the 1940 Katyn massacre of more than 20,000 Poles by Soviet forces.
The BBC's Richard Galpin in Moscow says this is a highly embarrassing admission by the Russian authorities - having initially denied the allegations.
That's some classy shit there.
+50 international embarrassment bonus for the pointless denial by the Russian officials.
But if the forces of evil should rise again, to cast a shadow on the heart of the city.
Call me. -Batman
I really don't understand why their default reaction to just about anything seems to be to try and hide it. Shit like Chernobyl, most egregiously. There's no fucking way they were going to be able to hide that, but they tried anyway, to the point where firefighters going to the site didn't know it was radioactive.
These guys have spent the past fifteen, twenty years hopelessly impoverished thanks to the economic situation in Russia and they know their theft cannot actually hurt the person they took the cards from. It's a very understandable thing that they did it.
The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth. -- Wikipedia's No Original Research policy page.
Ryan Thunder wrote:I really don't understand why their default reaction to just about anything seems to be to try and hide it. Shit like Chernobyl, most egregiously. There's no fucking way they were going to be able to hide that, but they tried anyway, to the point where firefighters going to the site didn't know it was radioactive.
Maybe I'm just suffering from selection bias...
First of all, that's a myth, firefighters at Chernobyl knew perfectly well the plant was radioactive and dangerous.
Second of all, they're getting better. Not only did they come clean, they also said they're going to pay compensation, and actually charged the soldiers with an actual crime. I'm actually impressed
JULY 20TH 1969 - The day the entire world was looking up
It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small. - NEIL ARMSTRONG, MISSION COMMANDER, APOLLO 11
Signature dedicated to the greatest achievement of mankind.
MILDLY DERANGED PHYSICIST does not mind BREAKING the SOUND BARRIER, because it is INSURED. - Simon_Jester considering the problems of hypersonic flight for Team L.A.M.E.
Spinal reflex from the Soviet era probably. Deny everything until you recive directives from higher authority on what to say. As for the thievery itself, well it happens. Whenever there is a disaster anywhere there is looting, true not always from the supposed keepers of order though...
I thought Roman candles meant they were imported. - Kelly Bundy
12 yards long, two lanes wide it's 65 tons of American pride, Canyonero! - Simpsons
Support the KKK environmental program - keep the Arctic white!
CJvR wrote:Spinal reflex from the Soviet era probably. Deny everything until you recive directives from higher authority on what to say.
Story's a bit bigger, or so they said. First Poland claimed the Spetznaz stole the credit cards. The Spetznaz denied it. Poles retracted the claim, when Russia explained that simple contract soldiers did the looting.
Embarassing more than anything, of course - I mean, damn, but actually I've expected nothing less. Do you folks know how much a Russian soldier gets now, in the glorious Russian oligarchy? Soldiers, policemen, doctors and teachers become corrupt because they're often paid pitiful shit. Sometimes below minimum wage - despite this violating the law, he-heh.
Lì ci sono chiese, macerie, moschee e questure, lì frontiere, prezzi inaccessibile e freddure
Lì paludi, minacce, cecchini coi fucili, documenti, file notturne e clandestini
Qui incontri, lotte, passi sincronizzati, colori, capannelli non autorizzati,
Uccelli migratori, reti, informazioni, piazze di Tutti i like pazze di passioni...
...La tranquillità è importante ma la libertà è tutto!
Stas Bush wrote:
Story's a bit bigger, or so they said. First Poland claimed the Spetznaz stole the credit cards. The Spetznaz denied it. Poles retracted the claim, when Russia explained that simple contract soldiers did the looting.
I heard on the radio the OMON was first blamed, the Russians denied it, then our side (Poles) apologized to the initially accused when it turned out it were contract soldiers who really did it.
It sucks to be them now, of course, though they could've been smarter about the whole thing. The total sum wasn't particularly high, only 6000 dollars or so, and they supposedly spent most of it in bars and such.
JULY 20TH 1969 - The day the entire world was looking up
It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small. - NEIL ARMSTRONG, MISSION COMMANDER, APOLLO 11
Signature dedicated to the greatest achievement of mankind.
MILDLY DERANGED PHYSICIST does not mind BREAKING the SOUND BARRIER, because it is INSURED. - Simon_Jester considering the problems of hypersonic flight for Team L.A.M.E.
"Whilst human alchemists refer to the combustion triangle, some of their orcish counterparts see it as more of a hexagon: heat, fuel, air, laughter, screaming, fun." Dawn of the Dragons
Enigma wrote:Contract soldiers? Is that like mercenaries?
Erm.. Kontrakti if I am not wrong, are professionals...
STGOD: Byzantine Empire Your spirit, diseased as it is, refuses to allow you to give up, no matter what threats you face... and whatever wreckage you leave behind you.
Kreia
Enigma wrote:Contract soldiers? Is that like mercenaries?
Erm.. Kontrakti if I am not wrong, are professionals...
If it's similar to the system the Hungarian army used before the abolishment of conscription:
They are most likely enlisted soldiers who signed up to serve for a predetermined time after their conscription service finished(if they are male, skip it for women). They are higher on the totem pole then conscripts, but below than the career officers/NCOs. Because they are not conscripts, they receive a higher pay(even if it's still criminally low as Stas Bush mentioned) along with some other perks/privileges(maybe, I don't know enough about the conditions in the Russian armed forces).
Soldiers, policemen, doctors and teachers become corrupt because they're often paid pitiful shit. Sometimes below minimum wage - despite this violating the law, he-heh.
