Polish Minister of Defence resigns

Polish Defence Minister Bogdan Klich has resigned after the publication of a government report on the plane crash that killed Poland's president last year, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday, eng.mod.gov.cn reports.

"He offered his resignation yesterday and I accepted it today," Tusk said at a press conference on Friday.

The long-awaited 328-page report said the crew of the TU-154 Tupolev aircraft were poorly trained and ignored crucial safety regulations. It said mistakes by Russian ground staff and poor conditions at Smolensk airport also contributed to the disaster.

Mr Klich’s departure from government is unlikely to have much impact less than three months before a parliamentary election which Mr Tusk’s centrist Civic Platform (PO) is tipped to win. Mr Tusk named Tomasz Siemoniak, a deputy interior minister, as the new head of the defence ministry.

However, the report, available in English and Russian as well as Polish on the website http://komisja.smolensk.gov.pl/, provides ammunition in the election campaign to Mr. Tusk’s main rival, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, twin brother of the late president the irishtimes.com reports.